The Dahl Family

A Toddler's Prayers

2012-01-05T01:12:00.000-05:00

I know Canon has been talking for a while, and his language has been growing by leaps and bounds for some time, but I haven't been able to get him to say his own prayers. At least until about 1 1/2 weeks ago...Canon has now said his first bedtime prayer, his first blessing on his food...and a few more since then of each. Of course he needs our help and only repeats what we say, but it's a new milestone and I'm so proud of him.

Of course he doesn't sit still and reverent through ALL prayers, and he hasn't done a blessing of the food in front of the whole family, but he's improving. I think it's really cute, but I can't take a picture of him saying a prayer...that would send the wrong image to him. I wonder what his first prayer will be when he says it all on his own! Way to go, Canon!!

Welcome to Motherhood...oh wait, I've been here for a while

2012-01-05T00:58:00.000-05:00

When Canon transitioned to a toddler bed, it was practically seamless. He was so easy to put down and he just stayed all night long. I figured I lucked out and didn't have to deal with the phase of getting up and putting back to bed repeatedly every night. Over the past couple of weeks, everything has changed!!! Canon gets put to bed, he tries to stall my leaving his room by calling my name. Now it feels like I have to tell him to go back to bed 2-3 times each night. Oh well, I guess I couldn't be so lucky as to skip that phase altogether. It just took Canon a little longer than I expected to reach that stage.

A few nights ago, Canon was having a hard time going to bed, but I told him that he wasn't allowed to get up and I'd see him when he woke up. That night Mark kept me up with some pillow talk about his frustrations with his career at this point. (No, I don't blame Mark...it's bound to happen in his situation every once in a while...the point was that it was this night that it happened...) Mark had me up until about 1:30AM. I probably fell asleep just before 2AM...finally!

Then at 5:12AM I heard a knock knock knock at our door. I looked and saw that the lights were all on in the family room and now Canon was at my door. I got up and brought Canon back up to his room, turning off all the lights as I went, telling him that it was too early for him to be awake and he needed to go back to bed. Canon seemed to take forever to go back to sleep...I finally left his room around 5:35AM, but once I got back to bed I couldn't fall asleep.

At 6:30AM I was just about to drift off into dreamland when I heard someone trying to open my door...not a knock knock knock this time...but only Canon cannot open a door when it's not locked. I got up again and took him back to his room, turning off the lights again as I went. This time I think it was about 7:00AM when I went back to bed.

Falling back to sleep at about 7:30AM, it was less than an hour when everyone upstairs woke up and I could hear them walking around. Ugh! So even though I went to bed at a normal time, I got about 5 hours of interrupted sleep the whole night. I guess it's good practice for when the next little baby comes! Grr! :-/

Holiday Festivities

2012-01-04T00:47:00.000-05:00

Christmas this year was a really good time for our little family. Over the month of December we had a Ward Christmas Party where Canon met Santa Claus for the first time. He didn't want to sit on his lap, but he got close enough for me to take a picture.

Grandma Dahl helping out as part of the Primary Presidency, guiding Canon to Santa Claus.

Canon, not so sure about this whole "Santa Claus" thing.

The best picture I could get of Canon with our family friend ~~Bruce Craven~~...Santa Claus.
Canon later requested another turn with Santa, but the line was just too long and he really needed to get home to bed.

We also attended a Smith Family Christmas Party where we went caroling while on a hay ride, ate a yummy lasagna dinner, and had a fun little program where each family presented a song or story or something. Canon was having a blast with the other little kids dancing in front while they all sang. That is...until he ended one of the numbers by running face-first into the end of the guitar Uncle Rob was playing...on the last cord of the song. nice timing Canon!! Poor kid! =( (I'd like to post this video, but I haven't gotten it off Grandma's or LiLing's cameras yet. I'm seriously considering sending it to America's Funniest Home Videos...once I get a copy of it.)

On Friday the 23rd, we went to my brother Rob's house for dinner and fun family time. We got a chance to visit with my Aunt Sylvia and her family. Canon loved playing with his 1st and 2nd cousins.

Lucia (sister-in-law), Eric (cousin's husband), Rob (brother) and Uncle Rick

Emma and Evan, Ragan and Eric's kids

Aubrey and Lucia

Lucia and all the kids getting ready to open the gift from Mark and me

the family's reaction to "Settlers of Catan"

still looking at the new game

Aubrey sharing some candy with Canon

We enjoyed a relaxed Christmas Eve with Mark's brothers (with respected family units) and his parents. We had a nice breakfast and opened the presents we all exchanged to each other. (There's a another video that I need to get off of Grandma's camera, otherwise I'd just post the video to show what happened...but I guess I'll just have to tell the story instead.) Cory and his wife Sarah had a miscarriage about a year and a half ago, and since then have been trying to get pregnant, even using fertility treatments. Well, Mark's mom gave them a present of a little toy crib and a baby doll with a wad of cash and a note: We'll provide the crib, you provide the baby! Mark's reaction was, "That's really rude!" Tiffany's first thought was, "Are they announcing something?" I wasn't really sure what to think because I was mostly in shock that Mark's parents would give a present like that...talk about putting on the pressure for them to get pregnant! We were all watching Sarah for her reaction, and she choked up and started to cry. It made us all really worried- How could they give them a present like that?!?! Then Cory started to laugh and said, "Because Sarah's pregnant!!" Needless to say, we were all really excited for them. (It turns out that Sarah is about a month behind me, so our little ones will be really close in age. Their ultrasound pictures look a lot more like a real baby than my pictures did.) We also opened up some pretty amazing gifts from each other. Mark got a deck of cards and a book of card games to play with a regular deck. He also got a certificate for an eye-exam and glasses from his parents. I got a new pair of gloves, and Mark's parents got me maternity jeans and a sweater. They also got me a vinyl cutting machine. It's not a Cricut brand, but it's pretty amazing with features that the Cricut doesn't have. It's an Craftwell eCraft Cutter machine, and I'm totally excited. They also gave one to Tiffany. So far I've learned that there's a learning curve on how to use this thing, and I need some projects to start working on. That night we ate a nice turkey dinner at Mark's grandparents' house, and we enjoyed that time with some family chatting and caroling.

Christmas Day we had to rush to get to church on time (because Canon was more interested in playing than letting me get him ready for church), where we had a lovely Sacrament Meeting with lots of music. I directed the congregational numbers because I'm the chorister, but I also directed the 2 choir numbers because the choir director wasn't there that day. So I conducted 6 musical numbers...and my arms were a little tired by the time I got home. :0) After we went home, the 3 of us went downstairs to see what Santa had brought us. Canon got a "new" trampoline (thanks, Grandma!) because he loves the one at the chiropractor's office so much. He also got a little work bench with tools and fun stuff. (Thanks, Tiff!) He loves the little Cars Lightning McQueen and Mater that he got too. He's been carrying those around with him everywhere. Then we opened our little family gifts to each other. Mark got me a bathrobe and Canon got me slippers. Canon got pajamas from us. Mark just got a bunch of junk-food! =D That night we had a Christmas dinner at the same Grandparents' house where we went the night before and then exchanged gifts with our cousins.

Here are some home videos in case you like that kind of thing, but they're not terribly interesting or funny. Just a view of what our Christmas looked like.

-What Santa Brought

-Stocking Stuffers

-Family presents

-Presents at Grandma & Grandpa's (1)

-Presents from Blake

Monday morning we went to Mark's brother's house to see what their kids got for Christmas. We played Just Dance on their Wii for a while and then had a snack. Mark, Canon and I had to then leave to meet my brother Jeff and his family down in Orem to join them for dinner and a birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese. Happy 4th Birthday, Joseph!!

Mark and I enjoyed a New Year's Eve party at Brian's house. Canon loved playing with his cousins, especially the Wii Just Dance Kids game. In fact, he still tries to sing the "I'm a Gummy Bear" song from the game. The adults played a bunch of games like Taboo, Heimlich & Co., Ticket to Ride, and maybe something else that I can't think of...just a fun time chatting and having fun as family. Cory and Sarah were there too, so 3 of the 4 brothers with their families. It was pretty fun. We put Canon down in a play pen when it was bedtime, but he woke up and refused to be put back down at about 11:30PM. I tried about 5 times to put him back down, but he kept waking up and crying to be held. I ended up staying with him through the stroke of midnight. He heard the neighbors shooting off fireworks which woke him up a little more. At that point he started talking a little bit and I was finally able to just tell him that he needed to go back to sleep. He didn't fuss anymore after that, but I felt bad that he was even more awake than when we started. He had a difficult transition into the car after 1AM because I had some technical difficulties with the blankets, but he fell right back to sleep in the car and transitioned just fine into his own bed. (Thank goodness our Church start time changed to 11AM that Sunday, so sleeping in wasn't a huge problem!!)

Basically, we've been partying a lot, Canon has been going to sleep later than I want him to on a regular basis...and he's been foregoing naps, much to our dismay. I'm trying to get him back on schedule though, so we'll see how that goes. We've been seriously blessed with great family and fun times to spend with them. I'm looking forward to seeing my parents this week, so I guess all our festivities are not quite over yet.

Holiday Letter

2011-12-09T18:12:00.001-05:00

Normally I like to send out a photo card with a letter to family and friends for the annual Christmas letter tradition. However, this year with the recent events in car repairs and the lack of job, I couldn't justify the cost of printing about 100 cards, $40+ in postage, and the cost of the stationary. I really would prefer to send one to each of you, but this electronic version will just have to do. Below you will see the letter I planned to send out and a few pictures I would've made into a collage on the photo card.

Dearest Family and Friends,

Again we celebrate the wonderful season of love and sharing. We reflect on the past year and remember what has made this year special. In January Canon and Kat flew to Chicago to visit family. In March they flew to Maryland to see a high school friend of Kat’s. Early June brought a tornado right through our town, leaving horrible destruction in its path just a few streets behind our house, but our house was hardly scathed. The rest of June was spent cleaning up from the tornado and packing up the house to move. In July our little family moved from Massachusetts to Utah. This trip allowed us to spend Independence Day with family in Chicago and then Pioneer Day with family in Utah. In August Mark and Kat attended Education Week on BYU’s campus, and we got to have a little bit more time with Kat’s parents before they went back to Chicago. October brought Canon’s first Halloween where he actually understood what was going on, carving pumpkins, and dressing up, and learning to say “trick-or-treat”. That’s also when we discovered Kat was pregnant. Canon turned 2 years old in November and we announced to family and friends about the baby Dahl soon to join the family this coming June. For more details, you can visit our blog- http://katmarkdahl.blogspot.com.

With all that’s been going on in our home, Kat somehow found time to make 3 quilts for 3 new babies this year. Mark has been searching for a job through much of the year and has started his own law firm to try to earn some money while he still searches. So far he’s had a few interviews, but nothing has panned out. Pretty soon he may end up going full-throttle with his business and hopefully end up being a huge success. Canon has been growing and learning so fast. His language has improved immensely since we moved to Utah, and he absolutely loves having so much family around.

The Lord has blessed us so much over this past year, and even though we’re not where we pictured ourselves to be 5 years ago, we have all that we need. We have a wonderful marriage, a healthy family, food to eat, a roof over our heads (albeit, the roof belongs to Mark’s parents), and the Gospel of Christ that brightens our lives. With the many gifts we receive each year, we are forever grateful for the most precious gift of all- the gift of our Savior, the Son of God, the Redeemer of the World. May each of you feel the gift of God’s love at this special time of year!

Love- Mark, Kat and Canon Dahl

Merry Christmas from the Dahl Family!

Catch-up on Random Thoughts

2011-12-09T18:03:00.000-05:00

Sorry, this might be a little long, and there are no pictures!

For those of you who prayed for us, thank you. The job in Duchesne told Mark that he'd know in about a week, by the very latest on Dec. 1st. Well, they never even called him back. We assume that's another "big fat no," but it still would've been nice for them to call. So, Mark has continued on with his law practice, and we keep praying for some sort of success for him. Right about now, we don't really care which kind of success, whether it's finding a real job or his firm really taking off. The only thing is that we know it would be so much easier if he could find a job that included health benefits. (Maybe that's the reason he hasn't been able to find one, because it's the easy route!)

I few weeks ago our bishop called us into his office. (I wanted to make sure I got record of it somewhere.) The bishop wanted to give us a little bit of counsel because he had been thinking of us. He said that we just needed to remember what to do what we're supposed to be doing, to be extra stalwart... you know, all the things that we've heard before. However, what made this visit special was that our bishop promised us that if we're patient and do what we're supposed to, that the Lord will give us what's in store- and it will be "wonderful!" I always knew that He'd bless us, but the fact that he said, "And it will be wonderful!" really hit me. Apparently it's not going to be something acceptable and bearable. That we'll figure out how to just make do. That gave me a little more hope than I was feeling before the visit. Is that silly of me to attach hope to such a small word? Anyway, after the little bit of counsel, the bishop switched around our callings a little bit. Instead of being the Primary teachers over the CTR4 class, Mark is now the companion of the little autistic boy in our class. Now Mark doesn't have to prepare any lessons, and they've called a new couple to be the class teachers. He then called me to be the ward chorister and the assistant choir director. Honestly, I was super excited because I loved doing that in the last ward. This time I don't have as much responsibility, but it's still doing what I like. Our choir director is going to be out of town for Christmas, so I get to direct the choir for the Christmas Program. :)

The other thing I wanted mention is actually pretty frustrating. Last week we got the oil changed in our car, and a few days later we took it in to get a glitch in the turn-signal fixed. Just this past Monday I was driving it a few blocks to do a couple quick errands, and something majorly wrong happened to the engine. It felt like something came loose and was clanking around under the hood. The car started sputtering and clanking, and I knew we had to take the car back to the shop. Turned out that Kent's Auto and Muffler doesn't deal with such extensive repairs. They suggested taking it to PK Auto because they do more intense repairs. Our AAA tow guy suggested taking it to a AAA approved shop, McNeil's. Turns out our best bet is to just replace the whole engine, which will cost about as much as the car is worth. So it came down to replacing the engine and hoping that nothing else goes wrong with the car, or buying another car that will last us a long time, and will accommodate our growing family. Looking into it, this wasn't really an easy decision because we can't really afford to do either. All the money we have isn't enough to pay for the repairs, unless you include the money in Mark's business. Since we don't really have a job (although I do work part-time at the chiropractor's office) we don't have an income to take on a new car payment. After all was said and done, we decided to have the car repaired by McNeil's with an engine that has a lifetime warranty. So we're down a car, but someone is lending us a car for a couple weeks while ours is in the shop. Ugh! What a perfect time of year to have such expensive car troubles. Grrr! Here's to hoping that we won't need any more repairs for a long time!!

Plea for Your Prayers

2011-11-18T23:29:00.000-05:00

As you may know Mark has been looking for a job for some time now. He has started his own firm on the side, but so far he's not made any money yet, but that's to be expected at this stage. He has still been applying to all the probable positions he sees open, but there are just not very many of those. Fortunately, he does have an interview coming up on Monday for the Duchesne County Attorney's Office. He is optimistic about this position and his chances since the deadline for the applications is Nov. 22nd and his interview is already set. We've been praying for a successful interview, and I'd like to ask each of you who are willing to pray for Mark. We would really like this job, but it's not really up to us whether he gets it or not. If God be willing, we can use all the help we can get! So many people try to cheer us up by saying that "it only takes one 'yes'" to land a job, but so far we've only had a bunch of "no's!" Your prayers would be most appreciated! Thank you!

My Baby is Now a 2-Year-Old

2011-11-08T16:50:00.000-05:00

This week we celebrated Canon's 2nd birthday. Sometimes it's hard to believe that he's already 2 years old, like the "where did the time fly?" kind of moments. But most of the time...it's pretty obvious that Canon is 2-year-old... he's definitely got the "MINE!!" concept down pat. *grumble grumble* He is growing so fast, and his language is really fun to watch develop. I'm so proud of my little guy, and I just wanted to share a few things from his birthday party.

All of Canon's aunts and uncles that live in Utah were there with their whole families. It made for a pretty crowded living room for opening presents with 20+ people, but still fun!
Canon got 2 really awesome trucks from family, and a few of the cousins were more interested in playing with those new toys than playing nicely with each other. At least when everyone went home, Canon was able to have his own turn with his new toys. He really does think they are the coolest!! Thanks for the great gifts everybody! (See videos below)

Everyone wants to play with the toys

Canon's turn, all by himself

I decorated his birthday cake to look like a train track all around it with a plastic train to hold the candles. It wasn't as cute as I envisioned, but it still worked...and it was promptly eaten, so it didn't really matter.
Canon took two blows to blow out the two candles, but he knew exactly what he was supposed to do and was ready to blow them out before I even got the cake close enough for him to actually blow.

Blowing out the Candles

Mark and I took the opportunity to tell family that Canon is going to be an older brother. I then made phone calls the next day to inform all the rest of my siblings. So, I guess the word is out now...I'm due June 23rd, and I'm about 7 1/2 weeks along now. We are excited about this new addition to the family. (I'm thinking that I will now turn my other blog into one about this new pregnancy and all the talk about Canon will now be moved to this main family blog. That way I can more easily compare the different stages of pregnancy and little baby developments.)

Trick-or-Treat Festivities

2011-11-08T16:27:00.000-05:00

This was the first year that Canon got to go trick-or-treating. Last year Halloween was on a Sunday, so I didn't encourage trick-or-treating...plus, he was only 1 year old at the time...he didn't need to learn about going door-to-door for candy when he hadn't learn to walk just yet. The year before that I was in the hospital in labor all of Halloween...so this was the first time, and Canon really loved it. (Thank goodness for good weather!!)

A week before Halloween we carved pumpkins as a family. It was pretty fun, even though I didn't get good pictures of our jack-o-lanterns in a timely manner. Here they are so you can see how they turned out...too bad a week is really too far in advance because they start to wilt and curl.

My ghost was already starting to wilt before I took the picture. :(

Grandma Dahl's jack-o-lantern

For some reason the other jack-o-lanterns made the camera flash , but not this one. At least you can really see how cool it turned out.

Mark's jack-o-lantern

A few days before Halloween, we participated in our ward's Trunk-or-Treat activity. We taught Canon to say "trunk-or-treat" and he said it to just about every car. I have to say it was pretty cute, and most of the trunkers thought so too. We borrowed a fire-fighter costume from Canon's Aunt Tiffany. I dressed up as a baby because it was simple and I already had all the materials I needed.

On Saturday we went to a party hosted by friends from Boston. Grandma and Grandpa (aka Mom and Dad) Dahl babysat for us that night. It was super fun to have a night out without worrying about getting home in time to put Canon down to bed. Thanks for the invitation to your great party Christina and Rob!! My right leg was sore for a few days after playing the paper bag game!

On Halloween, we attended a party at a friend's house, and we took the little kiddos around trick-or-treating for a little while. Mark and I went dressed up as a double pinochle while Canon wore his fire fighter costume again.

He has learned that he received a lot of candy in that little pumpkin bucket, so now he loves to play with "my pun-kin" whenever he sees it, and he often asks for "treat!" I think he has discovered the joy of Halloween, and now I have to discover the trick to keeping candy out of his reach and giving him only a little bit every day.

Thank you to everybody who made Halloween such a fun holiday for us this year.

Where Did My Free Time Go?

2011-11-01T18:04:00.003-04:00

I have spent too long without blogging because I've had a few things occupying my extra time (what little extra I get with an energetic little boy going almost non-stop). Somehow I've found the time over the past month or so to make a baby quilt for a friend back in Western Massachusetts. She was due to have the baby sometime in mid-October...so I was trying my hardest to get it out to her by the end of the month. I got it into the mail on Oct. 31st, so I guess I was close enough to my goal.

I decided that I wanted to make Callie a quilt because I made one for someone else in that ward who I was not as close of friends with as I was with Callie. However, I couldn't really justify the cost of buying the materials for a quilt. I expressed these thoughts to Mark's grandmother, and she offered to give me samples that she had received for free since she didn't have plans to use those fabrics.

If you closely you can see that all seven of these fabrics correlate with the other two sets of seven fabrics.

I looked online and found a quilt pattern that I thought would be fun. It's called the flying saucer block, and it creates a four-point star between the blocks.

A break-down on how you put the block pieces together.

You take one quarter of the block...

break it up into its individual pieces...

add the 1/4 inch seam allowance to each piece, and then use those to cut out the fabrics.

This was my paper representation of how I wanted the final product to look!
It turned out that I made too many mistakes in my cutting that I couldn't make it look just like this, but I rearranged which fabrics I put where. I still this it turned out cute, but it's not how I originally planned.

This is the backing that I bought. I couldn't find a fabric that matched precisely to the other fabrics, but this one looked like it had the right colors, and I think it helps the quilt to look cute and feminine. I included it onto the front as a border to tie the back into the quilt.

The first step is completed as the main triangles are now put together. Once all the larger triangles were done, the piecing of the blocks went really fast.

A closer look at the "green block"

the "red block"

the "pink block"

The whole thing pieced and starting the quilting process...

Here I am, modeling the finished product so you can see how big it turned out.

Would you believe me if I told you each block has 40 pieces, and there are 9 blocks?
I'm pretty proud of how it turned out. I hope Callie likes it!!!

a look at how the back looks with the front!

So, yeah I spent quite a bit of my time completing this quilt, but at the beginning of October, there was something else that was taking over my thoughts and time...

I've never read these books before, but I couldn't get my hands on the book for our book club so I gave them a try. Oh my goodness!! I got so sucked in!! I think I read all four books within 2 weeks, and if you really knew me, you'd know that's a huge feat. I've never thought of myself as a reader, but I just couldn't get enough of these books. I gave myself headaches because all I wanted to do was read, read, READ. Yeah, now that I'm done with them, I almost want to read them over again, but I know that would be a waste of time. I'm kind of sad to be done with them because I was really enjoying them. I've been wanting to watch the movies again because I now want to see how they differ from the books...but there's no one around me who seems to want to watch these movies right now. (Too bad I'm not in Illinois where my mom's group of friends are doing a movie marathon right before going to see the next movie in the theaters!!)

Remembering 9/11

2011-09-12T00:39:00.000-04:00

I feel that I'd be unpatriotic if I didn't at least say something about this tragic event of ten years ago. I was a freshman at BYU. I remember going to my first class and seeing a note written on the chalkboard that class was cancelled due to the events of the day. I had no idea what it was referring to, but since I didn't have class for quite some time, I headed back to my dorm. Along the way I ran into my Relief Society president. She looked like she was having a nervous breakdown, saying something about having flashbacks of the Oklahoma bombings (she's from OK!) and I really didn't know how to help her. I didn't have any comforting words, so I just walked with her to our building in silence. When I got inside I saw the news on the TV in the lobby.

My first thought was it was horrible prank that was being played. I couldn't actually grasp onto the fact that it was REAL. Planes really did crash, buildings of people really were destroyed, and it was a terrorist attack. I think it honestly took me almost an hour for it to really hit me. I don't remember much else of that day other than sitting in that lobby glued to the tv. I do remember that several girls from my dorms walked to the Provo Temple and had a little candlelight vigil on those holy grounds. We brought hymnbooks and candles and sang in honor of those heroes lost and their families.

After that horrific day, I felt a renewed appreciation for the country that I called home. There was a renewed hope and faith in us as a nation and that we can make it through anything. We were all proud to be Americans, and we were proud to be neighbors to each other. Reflecting on experiences of ten years ago, I still feel a deep appreciation and love for my country.

God bless America!

Another Month Gone By

2011-08-28T17:11:00.000-04:00

Now that Labor Day is fast approaching, I realize I should probably post something fun for everyone to read. Unfortunately, I don't think I have anything really fun for you...so you'll just have to suffer through a few boring ramblings that happen to come to the mind of Kat Dahl.

Rambling #1- Mark is still searching for a job. He's applied to basically every posssible legal position he'd be qualified for in the state of Utah that he finds online, and there's just not much luck. He had an interview to be a Provo City prosecutor, but they decided to "continue interviewing." He's getting a bit stressed about this whole ordeal- being well qualified but just not finding an opening to fill- and has considered starting his own firm right away, but he's still hoping to find a position at an "already established" firm because the start-up costs are just too high for someone without any form of income right now.

Rambling #2- Mark and I just got called as Primary workers to teach the CTR 4 class. Today we sat in with our class while the old teachers taught one more time. They're a lively little group, but it will be fun. They seem like a good group of kids. We haven't even met them all yet because they weren't all there. We were hoping to meet the autistic child while there was still a familiar face there with us. Oh well...I guess we will just have an adventure getting to know him by ourselves.

Rambling #3- Living with Mark's parents is a lot easier than I was expecting, and I almost feel like I'm not pulling enough of my own weight sometimes. I used to be in charge of all the cooking, all the cleaning, all the baby tending, and now I feel so lazy. Not that Colleen does it all...but enough of it for me to just feel like a mooch. I don't know about you, but I don't really like that feeling! I want to be useful! But at the same time, there's also the feeling of "It's not my house; does she not want me to do this?" At least I still feel in charge of Canon overall...she still asks me if I want Canon to have this or that before just giving him things. I'm happy to feel like they respect my wishes in regards to my child. (Thanks, Mom!)

Rambling #4- Canon has really adjusted well to being here in Utah. He's meeting so many cousins and friends, and he just thrives on all the attention. His language continues to grow, and he imitates more new words that he hears. He's still not quite stringing 2 words together, but he's really learning a lot. He's totally obsessed with cars and trucks. About 50% of his words are either "car" or "RRrrruck" and he could play with them ALL DAY LONG. He must be a little boy or something!!

Rambling #5- My mother-in-law and I engaged in a huge project not too long ago. We remodeled the main bathroom in her house. We (with help of relatives, of course) tore out the linoleum, tiled the floor with tiles left over from the kitchen (like 10 years ago), repainted all the walls and the ceiling, got a new custom-built cabinet (as well as one in each of the other bathrooms), new towel racks and TP holder, and re-caulked the tub. I'm actually really excited about how it turned out. It is far from looking professional, but it's good enough for a DIY job. I think it looks pretty good, and now I'm practically itching to do another project.

Looking through the ladder to see me cutting the blue edge

I just love this blue color. It really looks sharp with the blue in the tile of the tub.

We want the corners to look perfect now, don't we?

Uncle Paul helping us by laying and grouting the tile floor. Thanks, Paul!!

Rambling #6- Because of the aforementioned itching, I've been working on updating Canon's scrapbook. I've gotten through August of 2010, which means only a couple months left before his birthday. Ugh! Such a long process, but at least it's worthwhile, I find it FUN! Only 12 months left to go...and then...I have to keep on going because Canon is still growing fast!

Rambling #7- Mark and I really like being back in Utah because we get to spend time with friends that we haven't seen in ages, like the Meservys. We've already been able to hang out with them twice, and I hope we can make it a monthly event. Here are some pictures from our little pool party that we had with them. (Not all of these pictures are ones that I'd consider "blog-worthy", but I'm going to post them all so that Breanne can get all the ones she's interested in from that event. Also, there are a couple that she posted on her blog from our first visit that I thought were really adorable of Canon. Enjoy the pictures!)

Meeting Jane for the first time...they were fast buds! :)

Mom, this puzzle is super fun!

Jane braving the cold waters

Canon trying to flick us with water

Saying "please," but I don't remember what for

Mark just splashed him...but don't worry, he looks sadder than he really was. He was laughing shortly after this picture was taken.

Mommy loves

aw, so sad?

That's better, huh?

What's wrong with Jane, Daddy?

Nothing! See that adorable grin?

See, when Jane is happy, everyone is happy!

back to the flicking water again

Say "cheese!"

warming up a bit out of the water

See how much hair we DIDN'T cut when he got his last haircut?

chil-laxin' in the grass

They're in their pajamas, and Canon was not happy to see Jane go. Good night, Meservys! Thanks for playing with us!

Rambling #...what number am I on now?...- Mark and I went to Education Week at BYU last week, and it was pretty fun. My parents go every year, and I figured it was a chance to see them a little more before they went home. Of course, as it would happen, my parents and I were not really interested in many of the same classes, so I went to most classes by myself, but a few I had someone with me. Mark attended several of the Continuing Legal Education (CLE) classes because that's a really cheap way to earn CLE credits (which he needs to get every year). So, he spent most of the week with those, although a few classes he came with me. It was a long week with Canon having other people watch him all day, but he did great! Thanks to Grandma Dahl, Tiffany and her kids, and Mary and her kids for watching Canon that week. He really seemed to enjoy all the play time with everyone, and it allowed Mark and me to attend Ed Week with no worries. It was a fabulous week...thanks to you!

As some of you may ask what my favorite class was, I'll just give a little summary of what I got out of the week. I was not terribly interested in many gospel classes because I feel like those are topics that we hear all the time. However, I was interested in self-help classes this year. A few parenting ones really stuck out to me, but mostly it was a course on how to change anything. That's right, anything- referring to habits in your life. Did you know that there are 6 influences to every behavior you have, and your own willpower/desire is only 1 of those influences. It was so eye-opening to me to learn that in order to change a bad habit, you have to change all these other influences in order to succeed. I won't bore you with all the details, but I am still strongly considering buying their book. I just came out of Ed Week feeling a renewed hope that if there was something that I really want to change in my life, I have the ability to do it. I just have to really think it through first to make sure I consider all the influences.

That's all the rambling for now, but hopefully I'll have something a little more interesting to post soon!

So Sorry Guys...

2011-08-17T23:50:00.001-04:00

So sorry for not posting for a little while, but things have been a little busy lately. This week Mark and I are attending Education Week on BYU campus, so there's not a lot of time for Internet. I'm hoping I'll get to a real post next week to tell you about Mark's job search and everything.

I also wanted to apologize to some of my family members. I have a birthday calendar that I hung in my last house that reminded me when to make phone calls for your birthdays. However, that is currently in my storage unit, and I don't think I have a record of all those birthdays elsewhere...therefore, I don't know which ones I've missed in the month of August. In fact, I will probably continue to miss them this year unless you inform me of when all your (and your kids') birthdays are. This doesn't mean that I don't love you...just that I don't know when to show you my love! :)

Until next time.... have a good one!!

Catch-Up Time

2011-07-18T17:56:00.001-04:00

A lot has happened over the past month or so. This may end up being a long post. (Consider yourself warned!!)

After the Tornado
So, after the tornado, Mark and I volunteered some to help with the clean-up efforts through our church. We even got the yellow "Mormon Helping Hands" t-shirts for our participation. I didn't get to do a whole lot because Canon became super clingy and would not let anyone else watch him without throwing a fit. However, it was so awesome to see so many people come together for the cause of serving others. Our bishop informed us that there was well over 1000 man-hours put in, and the number was steadily growing. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was recognized as an official disaster relief agency for the State of Massachusetts, so the state started sending work-orders to the Church. It looks like there is a lot of work to be done, and there are over a hundred volunteers who will make sure it gets done. It was so awesome to be a part of the relief efforts... and kind of sad that we had to move right in the middle of it.

Here area few pictures of other parts of our neighborhood that show a little more of the destruction. These were taken about a week after the storm.

The neighborhood behind our house...

we weren't really even allowed to walk in this area if we didn't live here...but we did anyway.

I hope there wasn't anyone in that truck when this happened!!

Most of these houses were condemned! See the X?

The "sea of tarps" (as I called it) show how many houses had damage to their roofs.

The whole neighborhood looks so different now.

Once we got things cleared out from the back yard, we found Mark's bike in 3 pieces. The bed's box-spring was smashed too.

June in a Nutshell
The tornado brought on some stress to our neighbors, but it didn't really seem to affect Canon too badly. I think the fact that we didn't obtain much damage has something to do with it. Mark and I didn't own the property, so the stress of responsibility lay with the landlords, and we didn't have much to worry about. In fact, I threw a "PartyLite Party" for my neighbor Stephanie who just started up her own PartyLite business. She was so happy to have something "normal" to take her mind off of the tornado. I only had 2 guests show up, but a couple others placed orders, and I earned $50 in hostess benefits. That was way more than I expected, and it made me happy.

I pretty much spent the rest of the month packing and deciding which things keep or get rid of. We held tag sale (what MA people call yard sales) and made over $150 and donated the rest of our unwanted stuff to the Salvation Army. That night we also hosted a BBQ to say good-bye to everyone. We had a ton of people from church come, which was pretty awesome. Then the dark clouds rolled in and we had a major thunderstorm, which was not quite so awesome. Everyone squished into our house to get refuge from the rain. It would have been nicer to not have to cram in, but it got us all to be a little more friendly. They all seemed to have a great time though! Too bad I didn't get any pictures. Sorry! :(

I'm going to miss our friends from Springfield, MA. Moving to a new place is never easy, and I felt so at ease there. It will take some getting used to back in the State of Utah.

The Move
Mark's parents flew out from Utah to help us with the move. They drove the moving truck while Mark and I rode with Canon in the car. (There's no place for a car seat in the moving truck... so we couldn't just tow our car.) Some friends came to help us load up the truck, and it all went pretty smoothly. Our landlord didn't make me clean the whole house before leaving, so that saved us about 3 hours of work. She said that they were going to have to be doing some work on the walls and stuff and that they'd end up having to clean up after that anyways, so we didn't need to bother. S-W-E-E-T!!!

As for the drive, it was pretty uneventful, which is typically a good thing. Thanks to our sister-in-law Tiffany, we were able to borrow a portable DVD player that hooked onto the back of my headrest. Canon watched a couple movies each day, which was a total life-saver. I don't like to have him watching so much TV, but it was worth it on such a long drive. Canon doesn't really like riding in the car, and it was usually a struggle to get him back into the car once he's been out. However, a few times turning on a movie was enough of a distraction to get him buckled in and on the road again.

Canon was AWESOME on this trip. He could've been such a pain, but he was pretty well-behaved. By the last two days of the trip I had to hold him in the back seat so that he would be comfortable enough to sleep. It was little difficult to not be able to move around and stuff, but to have my baby sleeping was totally worth it. It made the car ride silent and really boring for Mark (poor guy), but we made it through, safe and sound.

The Road-Trip
Knowing that this road-trip was going to be a long one from MA to UT, we needed to make a mini vacation out of it. The day we loaded our truck we drove a few hours to somewhere in PA. We stopped at a hotel and shared a room with the 5 of us. It turned out that NO ONE really got much sleep that night. We decided that for the rest of the trip, Mark and I needed to get a room separate from his parents. (At least we tried it once to see if we could save that much money on hotels...too bad it didn't work out that way.)

The next day we drove to Lodi, OH to visit Uncle Andy's house. We arrived in the afternoon and spent that night with them. Canon certainly loved playing with Mark's cousins Erica and Trevar. They have goats and horses...and we all took a walk out to the barn to see the new baby goats! Canon wasn't so sure about that, but we thought they were fun.

Seeing the goats (1)

Seeing the goats (2)

Playing with Trevar

Mom holding a goat.

Canon playing with Erica in their wagon.

"I like this girl, Mom! She plays with me!"

Look at those fine Dahl boys! This is our cousin Trevar and Uncle Andy on the right.

This is the view I had of Canon during the drive. Having a video to watch was very helpful!

After all that fun, Mark, Canon and I drove to my parents' house in Bolingbrook, IL. We took my mom out to dinner with just enough time to take her to the outdoor theater where she and my dad performed in the opening night of The Music Man. We didn't go to see it that night because we knew that Canon needed to get down to bed... it had been a long trip for him, and he wasn't eating very well. I didn't want to push our luck with him.

On Saturday we hosted a BBQ for as many of my friends from the area could come. We had a turn out of about 20 people (if you count all the kids). It was such a boiling hot day, and there were a few people who didn't come even though they said they would. I don't blame them. I hardly wanted to be outside in that humidity, and after a while we eventually did go inside. It was hard to give everyone some one-on-one time, but I think I did get to visit with everyone. It was so great to visit with some old friends... but I forgot to to take any pictures. *Drats!! That night we got a babysitter while Mark and I went to The Music Man to see my parents perform. That was really fun, except for the mosquitoes eating Mark alive. My dad was in the barbershop quartet, which is a part he's always wanted to play, so that was fun to see. My mom was a villager in the chorus, and that's the kind of part she likes. They did a great job and I'm glad we got to see it.

Sunday was a normal day at church... as normal as you can expect when you visit a ward you were a part of growing up but had changed dramatically while you were gone. It was great to see some old friends/mentors and just feel the spirit of love in that ward. It kind of did feel like "home"!

Monday the ward had a picnic at a local park. That was pretty great, except that it was sooo HOT! I tried to find time to visit with everyone, but my attention was divided with the baby, going back home to get straws and a ball...going back home again to put the baby to bed...but overall, I enjoyed our time there.

Canon playing on the slide with Daddy.

My brother Dan and his wife Bonnie

Doug Carlisle with his baby girl Quinly

Doug and Stephanie Carlisle, with kids McKenna, Lana, Collin, and Quinly

Doug was one of my best friends from high school.

Stephanie, Mark and I were all friends from freshman year at BYU. Steph was my roommate sophomore year, and then she met Doug when he came out for a visit. They were married before that calendar year ended. Mark and I got married almost exactly a year after that.

That night we went to the Bolingbrook presentation of the fireworks. It was pretty fun.

on the shuttle, going to the fireworks

having a little fun before the show

dancing to the live music

The look I was hoping for through the whole firework show... but no such luck!

Our little family celebrating Independence Day.

Canon was not as excited about the fireworks as I had hoped. He was nervous at first, but once he got into it I think he did like it. After only a few minutes though, he was more interested in pointing out the airplanes that were in the sky. I tried over and over to get him into the fireworks, but it just didn't hold his attention for that long. I think he was genuinely frightened during the finale because he didn't like all the loud bangs. It was a fun night though!

Here's a video or two for your viewing pleasure.

The next day Mark and I took Canon to the Brookfield Zoo. It was yet another very hot day. If it had been cooler, it would probably have been a more enjoyable trip. As it was, we spent too much for what we got out of it, but we were still glad we went. Here are a few pictures from our adventure:

Canon was not too interested in the giraffes. :(

Canon was really uncomfortable in the heat, and the sunscreen in his eyes didn't help much. Even the zebras couldn't keep his interest.

the monkey house was pretty cool

Canon during one of the few moments he was paying attention to the dolphin show

That night I helped my mom who hosted a baby shower for Rosalie, a friend of the family who just had a baby boy a couple weeks ago. I was in charge of the games, and overall, I think it went really well. My mom's living room was filled with people, so it was a success and a bunch of fun.

That was our last night before heading back out on the road. We met up with Mark's parents somewhere on the road and stopped in Omaha, NE for the night. The next day ended at Cheyenne, WY. And the last day was a short drive (relatively) to the Dahl House in Draper, UT.

As for now, we've moved in with Mark's parents. We have a storage unit for most of our stuff, and we've been adjusting to life back in Utah. Hooray for the next chapter of life!!

Tornado Too Close to Home

2011-06-04T16:29:00.000-04:00

You may have seen it on the news, but Springfield, MA just had a tornado on Wednesday, June 2 at about 4:30pm. NOTE: This is going to be a long post with tons of pictures. Let me start by saying,

WE ARE ALL OKAY!!

Our house has very minor damage, but there's nothing to really worry about. We've been without power since the event, but we stayed a couple nights with friends from the ward, and since the power box got ripped from the house, our landlord has been working hard to make sure that we can get power when the electric company turns it back on. We're told that we should get power back today, but that's a little more optimistic than we expected.

If you haven't heard our miracle story yet, read on. If you have, or just don't care about all the details, you're welcome to just skip to the pictures of devastation. :)

Miracles Do Happen

I usually leave about 4:15pm to go get Mark from work. Wednesday I ended up leaving a little later than I wanted to, so I texted Mark to inform him. I walked out the door and thought to myself, "This feels like tornado weather." I brushed it off because I needed to get downtown to the courthouse to pick up Mark. I was driving along Central St., (remember these street names!!...you may want to have a map of Springfield handy as you read this post!) and heard the radio emergency broadcast mention a tornado warning in Western Massachusetts/ Northern Connecticut, but I missed about half of the warning because it went fuzzy. Through the static I heard "Springfield" but couldn't tell what it was saying. I started to get nervous but just didn't want to make a big deal of it. Then I turned right onto Maple Rd. I looked up and saw really low dark clouds that began circling. It wasn't quite a funnel cloud, but it was still too close for comfort. As I got to the intersection of Maple Rd. and State St., I could see tons of debris flying everywhere. Debris was hitting my car (and Canon was in the back seat), and I just received a text from Mark to meet him by the mailboxes (which is where we go when it's raining). I started praying for Mark's safety, hoping that he was okay, not outside where he could be blown away or hit with huge chunks of who-knows-what. I turned left onto State St, watching debris still going everywhere, trying to get through to Mark who should have been only 2 blocks ahead of me.

Meanwhile, Mark was standing outside and saw that there was airborne debris and tried to get back into the courthouse. It was locked but a security guard let him back in through the emergency exit. He could see the tornado as it passed right over the highway and passed the courthouse and headed straight up toward Maple Rd. and the direction where I just came from. So he was worrying for our lives.

My car seemed to be holding up just fine, no rocking from wind or anything, so I kept right on driving. When I got to the courthouse, Mark was standing outside at the top of the steps. He got in the car and we drove around the block like we always do, but it was not an easy drive. (I apologize for the fuzzy pictures. These were taken by my phone in a moving vehicle.)

trees down by the courthouse

East Columbus Ave. blocked by fallen trees

On-Ramp to I-91 was stopped by fallen trees

We had to maneuver around this to drive along East Columbus Ave.

The old park in downtown had huge trees up-rooted everywhere.

This was our first view of the damage down by this tornado.

Canon and I were playing at this park the day before as we waited for Mark to get off of work.

We tried to drive back the same direction I came, but everyone was turning around. We couldn't get through. It looks like I drove parallel to the tornado and around it as it passed. I just barely missed it.

This is the intersection of Maple Rd. with Central St. That school on the left was surrounded by beautiful trees. If you zoom in you might be able to see how broken they look.

This was the first bock we came to: Central St. just minutes after I drove this very spot

We turned around on Maple Rd. heading back toward State St. We thought about using Union St. to get to Walnut, but then we saw a blockage before we even turned onto Union St. So we continued to State St. We turned right continued along until Walnut St. Once we noticed the seriously long line of cars, we abandoned that idea and continued along State St. until Wilbraham Rd. We finally got onto Island Pond Rd, which would lead us right home, but we came to another blockade, just a few blocks down from our street, right by a church.

Island Pond Rd. had some of the worst damage, but we couldn't get through to even see what happened. We heard there were several telephone poles were knocked down and many damaged homes.

St. Anthony Church used to be surrounded by a beautiful forest.

Here you can see some of those trees were uprooted and split.

We were turned around on Island Pond, and we tried going up Overlook Dr. which goes between that St. Anthony Church and Bethesda Church and would take us into our neighborhood.

This car was parked on the side of Overlook Dr. when the tree was knocked over. The uprooting action lifted the car off the ground. The houses in the background are on Island Pond Rd.

We drove along Overlook Dr. and turned right onto Wendover Dr. (getting soooo close to home...) but that was blocked off at the top of the hill. Coming back to Overlook Dr, we couldn't turn right to make our way to Roosevelt Rd. because there was a blockage there too. So we had to make our way back down to Island Pond Rd. and turn onto Roosevelt. Turned out that was blocked off too. Seriously, we were running out of options and couldn't find a way to get to our house. So, after an hour of driving around and being redirected every route we chose, we just parked our car on Overlook Dr. (on the other side of the blockage) and hiked it home with Canon in the stroller.

The top of Wendover Dr., after most of the way was cleared for foot traffic.

As we walked over the hill, we heard that Cathedral High School was completely trashed. Knowing how close to home that was, we were starting to worry about whether our house was even there anymore. (Just to put it into perspective for you, Cathedral High (attached to St. Michael's Academy) is across the street from Mary Dryden Elementary (right next to another building for St. Michael's Academy), on the other side of the elementary school is a playing field/baseball diamond, and about 6-7 houses after the field is OUR HOUSE.) On the other side of the hill were the schools, and we were shocked at what we saw.

St. Michael's Academy Pre-K to 12... note the overturned car and school in the background.

another view of the same parking lot...more overturned cars in view

a telephone pole down across Wendover Dr.

Cathedral/St. Michael's had windows blown out and doors missing. We later found that the football stadium was completely demplished.

The roof of Mary Dryden Elementary caved in...

and much of that roof ended up on the street.

another view of Mary Dryden Elementary

still Mary Dryden

the beautiful trees on Cathedral's campus all uprooted

Look at this tree at Mary Dryden.
The stop sign ahead is the intersection with Surry Rd...our street.

it uprooted the SIDEWALK!!

Now on Surrey Rd, passing up Mary Dryden.

Another view of Mary Dryden and campus. The fallen trees missed the playground.

Our neighborhood

Hurrying home along Surrey Rd. as the rain started up again.

The field used to have a backdrop of pretty trees...now they look like broken sticks.

Surrey Rd, coming closer to home

Didn't expect to be hiking through a jungle when I woke up that morning!!

Daddy took the stroller, Mommy took the baby through the jungle.

Canon didn't even seem the slightest bit phased by all of this.

My friend Melissa's house- she lives 4 doors down from us.

Stephanie's house, across the street from Melissa

A different angle of Steph's house

This is our house. We're so glad I wasn't home because our car would've been right where that pile of trees and branches is. I don't think it would have survived.

Once you get past the big pile, you could really only find one route to get in, the back yard.

The shed was destroyed, along with our lawnmower, box spring, bike and probably our rake (if we could find it).

The fence was broken too, but at least those were in big pieces and look like they can be nailed back together without too much effort.

I can't remember where this is, but it's a good example of what the neighborhoods look like now.

That night we had a few people from the ward come over to check on us and see if there was anything that they could do. Since it was still storming and getting darker, we couldn't really do much until the morning. We stayed the night at a friend's house because they had power. (It was amazing that they were within walking distance and somehow had power, and the neighborhoods on the other side of them did not. They were in a convenient pocket of electricity...but they didn't have internet...hence why this post didn't happen until today.) We stayed there the following night too, but the third night we stayed at home. Since the weather cooled off, it's not too bad to be at home without AC. We had to move all the food from the fridge to coolers with ice, but we still lost some of the food.

We took some more pictures of what we saw the following day. I will spare you the captions now since you probably have no idea what I'm talking about anyway, but you can get a look at the damage to our house and the rest of the neighborhood.

Missionaries and men from church came to help chop up the trees in our front yard.

Damage to our house...power box and meter ripped off

Flying debris punctured a hole in the side of the house and knocked the trim off the wall in Canon's room. Light shines in through this little hole.

This is the hole into Canon's room.

We think this is the board that caused said hole.

What used to be our shed in the back yard

The final product of all the work the ward members did for us.

Finished Projects

2011-05-15T20:45:00.000-04:00

So I DID complete that ladybug quilt within the week. I sent it out on Wednesday (I think) and Tiffany got it on Friday. It turned out to be a good day for her to receive it because she's had a hard week- I mean, come on... she just had a baby, of course she had a hard week- and this was just the pick-me-up she needed. At least, that's what she tells me. (It makes me all the more excited about a project I've done when the person I gave it to loves it so much!) I'm still not very good at doing the edging on baby quilts, but I think that's more because I don't have the patience to actually do it right (with doing the hand stitching to hide the machine stitch from the other side). Overall, I think it turned out really cute though.

Not bad for my first hand-quilting job, eh?

a corner for a little better view of details

another corner to show edging job

I really liked working on this blanket, and I had a few bits of the fabric leftover. I was hoping to be able to make a baby blanket for my landlord who's having a girl in July, but there was enough to actually make an entire blanket. So, after a little bit of thought and deliberation with a sewing-savvy auntie, I decided to quilt a few burp rags.

I used inspiration from this website, however not following her directions strictly, I came up with this:

made this template (trimmed from the one on the above website)

The same checker look of the fabrics from the quilt on the reverse side

The set of 3 together turned out really cute!

Once I was done with these, I realized just how thick they are, which may end up making them not so great burp cloths because they are somewhat stiff. Oh well! They're still cute and really absorbent, so that's what really matters. Hey, and if she really doesn't like using them as burp cloths, then she's got a few over-sized oven pads. Mark said, "Once you finish a project, you're supposed to wait a couple weeks, not just start right into another one." Yeah, that was before I told him I was almost done with them. I whipped these little babies out in just 2 days! I know they're not perfect (due to the thickness factor), but I'm still pretty proud of myself for turning these babies out so quickly!!

P.S. Hey Noel, here's a shout-out to you! Is it too late to still accrue points for your contest? :-P

Happy Mothers' Day!

2011-05-08T17:17:00.000-04:00

Today we celebrate the wonderful blessings of motherhood. I have truly loved being a mother and all that it teaches me...the wonderful compliments of how adorable my son is (which I never get tired of hearing, by the way!)...and all the responsibilities it lays at my feet to teach my children. Of all the things I did/didn't expect about being a mother, I didn't realize just how busy I'd be as a stay-at-home mother. (I know, I know! How naive!!)

Well, I love to have a project to work on, and Mark really likes that I enjoy doing little projects. The down-side is that often when I have a project, I rarely get other things done around the house. So, I've been trying really hard to spend my daytime hour(s) when I don't need to be watching Canon really closely doing housework. That only leaves me a few hours at night, after Canon goes to bed but before we go to sleep, to work on my project. Hence the lack of time spent blogging. However, I am nearly done with my project, so I thought I'd show how it's coming.

My sister-in-law Tiffany just had a baby on Tuesday May 3. Lily Paige Dahl was born at 7:53am weighing 6 lbs. 14 oz. and was 19 inches long. I decided to make a quilt for her since I'd never done one for a family member before, and I can use the practice. I was hoping to have it done by Easter to send in an Easter package. Then I was hoping to have it done by the time the baby was born. Then I was hoping to send it by the time they got home from the hospital. Obviously that didn't happen because it's still not completed, but I'm close. Here's my progress:

(Tiffany, if you want to be surprised by the look of the quilt, this is where you STOP READING!! Happy baby!)

Remember this fabric from the puppy quilt I just did for a baby shower?

A pink version of the same stuff...

and an even lighter pink version...

and these adorable lady bugs....

Put them all together, and you have some potential for a baby girl's quilt.

Block type 1

Block type 2

Alternate them, and you can see the pattern coming to life.

a closer look at pattern

I've finished the quilting! Now I need to trim the edges and add the edging.

This is the first time that I've ever actually quilted. All of my other quilts I just tied with yarn. This blanket I stitched straight lines through all the checkered squares and decided to quilt little pictures of ladybugs on the ladybug fabric. This took me a long time, but I think they turned out really cute.

Ladybug Type 1

Ladybug Type 2

Ladybug Type 3

Ladybug Type 4

Here's to hoping that I can get it done within the week and get it to her before the baby outgrows the other stuff I want to send with the blanket! :-)

A Random Day to Remember

2011-04-07T14:28:00.000-04:00

So today started off like any other day...oh wait, no...I got a shower in before taking Mark to work. Anywho, we got out a little later than we really wanted to, but we still got Mark to work on time. After dropping him off, Canon and I went to Walmart to exchange some razors. We went to the razor aisle and I picked out the new ones and started taking Canon back toward the Customer Service area when I noticed he had something in his hand. It was a disposable razor head. I guess one of the packages must have been opened and, of course, he found it. It took me a little while to get it away from him, trying to not just rip it out of his hands for fear of cutting him. I did get it out, but he was not happy with me. I kicked it under the display rack so he wouldn't reach for it again. I looked for a cut but couldn't find one. Phew! Then I exchanged the razors and was heading out when I noticed Canon's finger was bleeding. Ugh! So I asked a worker if they had a first aid kit so I could clean him up. He was such a good sport with the antiseptic wipe, but he tried to not let me put the band-aid on. I got it there though, and he's had it on ever since. So, nothing too dramatic, but it still frightened me.

Then after we got home, I didn't want to take him inside so soon. It is such a gorgeous day outside, so we went for a little walk. Canon saw a helicopter for the first time; he stopped to bark at a dog across the street; he picked up little rocks and carried them down the sidewalk. He even walked up the walkway and up the stairs to the front door of a nice widow that we met who lives on our street. So I let him ring the doorbell and we had a short little visit with her.

When we left her house, we walked down another street to give Canon some new scenery, and there was a little boy who came running out from his backyard to come meet Canon. The mom and little sister came out front too, and we made some new friends. We even went to their backyard to have an impromptu play date. So fun! So, now we may end up having some new friends in the neighborhood...for the next 3 months or so of us living here. The mom even informed me of a program they do at the local library that I think would be really fun to bring Canon to...so we may end up seeing them on a regular basis. I'm kind of excited for it!

We didn't get home from dropping off Mark at work until after 11am. Canon ate a little bit of lunch while watching Veggie Tales before taking a nice nap. So, not completely typical, but it was a nice day. Yay for great weather!!

Long Weekend/Fun with Fondue/Mark's Birthday

2011-03-21T21:22:00.000-04:00

So apparently in Eastern Mass, the court systems had an "Evacuation Day" where they closed the courts and had a day off. Here in Western Mass, they didn't close courts, but Mark was allowed to take a day off, but he got to choose which day to take. His original plan was to take off today (Monday the 21st) because it's his birthday... Happy Birthday, Sweetie!!!... but he decided to take off Friday instead. Why?

1) Because Canon and I went to Maryland for a couple days so that I could go to court as a character reference for my friend Theresa in her custody hearing. We left on Tuesday afternoon and returned on Thursday afternoon, so we hadn't seen him for a couple days. I wanted to be able to really spend some time with Mark instead of coming back home just to be alone with Canon all day again. (No offense, Canon!)

Fun with a camera on the plane to MD

Mom, let me take the picture!!

It's so nice to have the whole row to ourselves to let Canon play.

We didn't have a crib for Canon to sleep in, so it took a long time to get him to fall asleep at night. I placed stuffed animals all around him so that he wouldn't roll too far and bump his head on the bed posts.

2) Mark is really into the NCAA March Madness Tournament right now, and he wanted to watch a game that he recorded and didn't get to yet. He knew that he wouldn't be able to avoid all the news about the game if he went to work, so staying home would allow him to watch the game and not have it spoiled for him.

3) But the factor that somehow placed the most weight for Mark's decision was that the weather was absolutely beautiful. It was so nice outside, so we took a family trip to the park!

Woo hoo! This is so fun, Mommy!

Daddy playing in the tubes with Canon

Look up here, Mom!

Fun with the Slide

Enjoying a lazy morning with Daddy

On Saturday we celebrated Mark's birthday with a fondue party with a couple families from our ward. We spent pretty much the entire day preparing for the party, so I didn't get many pictures. But, he did open his presents that day.

Thanks for the new clothes, Mom and Dad Dahl!

Mark hasn't been able to wear his wedding ring for a few years now because it's too small. Since it was all beat up and looked nothing like it did when he first got it, I got him a new one. Of course, it's the wrong size, but at least he was able to open it, try it on, and then take it back to order the right size.

The Fondue Party that night was a success. We had about 10 people total eating shrimp and beef cooked in oil; ham, crackers, and veggies dipped in cheese sauce; and cookies, pretzels, strawberries, and bananas in chocolate sauce. So yummy!

Turns out that it was a fabulous idea that Mark took off Friday instead of Monday. This was the view from my windows today.

So much for Springtime...snow = sad :(

The Finished Product

2011-03-21T20:16:00.000-04:00

I think I forgot to show you all how the baby quilt turned out. I gave it away at the baby shower a couple of weeks ago, but here is the finished product. I kinda messed up the edging, but I don't call myself a professional quilter... so this was a good experience for me to learn from, and I think it still turned out pretty cute.

Daily Ritual

2011-03-12T00:06:00.000-05:00

I'm so glad when Daddy comes home

Glad as I can be.

He picks me up and holds me tight

And then counts One, Two, Three.

He then will spin me really fast

All the way around.

I grab on so I can't do what?

Fall to the ground.

After Mark gets home from work every day, they usually do something like this in the kitchen, although Canon seems to enjoy it more than he did in this video. I guess he was camera shy this time!

A New Quilt

2011-03-01T14:26:00.001-05:00

Mark was throwing out one of his old button-up shirts because the elbows were getting worn, so I decided that I'd like to use it for something crafty. I got an urge to do some sewing, so I set off for Joann's to make a baby blanket for a baby shower I'm going to this Saturday. They just had a baby boy, so this is what I picked out.

You can't go wrong with puppies for a boy's blanket!

These stripes are a "sister fabric" of the puppies.

Just a little something that would make it "pop"!

Put them all together and I think it will be a cute combination!

So then I had to design the quilt. Afterall, I only had a week and a half until the baby shower. I had a few ideas floating around in my head, so I thought I'd better get them down on paper before making a decision.

First was the simple blocks to incorporate all the fabrics evenly.

Then a more complicated, yet cuter design.

This is what I finally decided on though.

I got all my pieces cut out and ready to go.

This is the layout to give you an idea of how it will turn out.

Once I had sewn 6 of the 12 blocks, I found that I was running out of blue strips. What? I counted them and had the right amount cut. I looked a little harder at my design and realized that I was sewing all the blocks the same, but that's not how it was actually designed per se. Since the bottom and right edges of the blanket were lined with blue, I had to cut more blue and red to line the left and top too. I think it turned out even cuter than I designed it originally, and I'm quite pleased with it.

I now only have to layer the blanket with the batting and the back, tie it with yarn, and then edge it with the red bias tape I got. Hopefully this won't be very difficult or time consuming (which I don't really expect, but who knows what might come up?) I was originally thinking of using some denim that I have left-over as the backing, but then I realized that it was just too heavy for this cotton blanket. I have enough of the red fabric, so I'm going to use that as the back, but I was really hoping to use that for another quilt. Oh well, I guess I'll have to go find something else for that one. Finishing this quilt takes precedence. Wish me luck in getting it done before Saturday. So far, I've made great progress, but it's not done yet... and I still have a baby and a house to take care of. :-)

New Phone

2011-03-01T13:44:00.000-05:00

Ok, so after that strange phone experience, confirming that our family plan DID have a phone available for an upgrade, I decided I needed to get a new phone. Since the store wasn't open when we got there, Canon and I walked over to the nearby CVS to get a couple essentials and to pass the time. While there a nice older man bought Canon a large sucker. Since it was a nice gesture, and he didn't ask before purchasing the candy, I said it was alright to give it to Canon. (In my mind I was thinking, "This is a sticky disaster waiting to happen!") The sucker seemed to occupy Canon enough to not try to get out of the shopping cart, which was nice. Then as we left I knew that I needed to take it back so that I could hold onto his hand to walk down the slippery sidewalk. We ran into that man again (whose name was Eddy) where he tried to get Canon to give him a high-5, but to no avail. We thanked him for the sucker and made our way back to the AT&T store.

Canon certainly had a blast exploring that place, and it was quite difficult for me to keep him out of things he wasn't supposed to be getting into. At least everyone in the store kept saying that he was just so cute and didn't seem to mind his energy, but as his mom, I had a hard time trying to think- choosing a phone and everything that came along with it. I showed the AT&T guy the video of what my phone was doing and he said that the water damage that my phone experienced would do that sort of thing. *Note to self: DO NOT let Canon play with your new phone! Drool is more destructive to a phone than dropping it into the toilet because when a baby sucks on a phone they force the water inside. The water damage also affected the SIM card, which meant that I had to transfer over 1/2 of my contacts manually. UGH! That's ok, now it's all fine and dandy. It's just a simple phone, the "free" one you can get with all the deals AT&T has nowadays. (I say it's simple, but I still haven't figured out how to set my speed-dials yet!)

Yay for a new phone!!

Oh, remember that sucker? Yeah, I let Canon have it a little more once we got home, but there was no way I would let him eat the whole thing...that's way too much sugar before a nap time.

yummy sucker

My Phone Scares Me

2011-02-22T15:06:00.000-05:00

I've been meaning to blog for a little while now, but I couldn't really think of anything to really talk about. Mark told me that meant that I probably didn't really need to blog. I guess nothing exciting happens when all I do is stay at home with the baby.

I mean, Valentines Day was nice but nothing really extraordinary. We traded babysitting with another couple in the ward. We watched their little girl on Saturday, and they watched Canon for us on Monday. I tried to be all cute by making Mark a cream cheese pie (and a few tarts with the remaining filling). I topped it off with cherry-pie filling (to make it red) and tried to add a whipped-cream frosting on top. I expected it to work like other frostings/icings with my cake decorating kit... but I was sorely mistaken. I had plans to make it all pretty and write "I love you" in a heart shape... but that was a total disaster. This is how it turned out in the end. Not too horrible, but not nearly as cute as I envisioned. At least it still tasted great!

Here are the tarts I made with the remaining stuff. These turned out pretty good too!

For Valentines Day, Mark and I ate at Texas Roadhouse and totally stuffed ourselves. We were thinking of going bowling after, but since we were so full, and it was all the way across town we decided not to. We considered a movie, but nothing in the theater interested us enough to pay for it. So we walked around the mall for a little while. Eventually we bought me a new camera. We had been looking into cameras since Christmas and finally just bit the bullet and bought one. Yay, Happy Valentines Day to me!

Really, other than that (and Canon is sprouting 2 more teeth), there's not much to report on the blog.

However, something that I was not expecting happened today... and I wouldn't say that I was pleasantly surprised either. In fact, I'm pretty annoyed at it.

Watch this!

Sorry for the weird glare. My phone is an LG Shine, and it's like a mirror. I guess I should've used a different angle to record this video.

I noticed it at first just after Canon went down for his nap. Then I tried to get in touch with Mark and his mom to let them know what was going on. Then Canon woke up after only 1 hour. Ugh! Looks like I'm going to have to get a new phone, and I'd go and do it right now if only I knew all the personal info I needed for the family plan we're on. For now my phone just scares me, but I'm sure I'll have a new one up and running in not too long. *sighs*

Wait, who said nothing exciting happens when all you do is stay at home with a baby? *grins*

Yay for Old-Time Friends!!!

2011-01-29T10:31:00.000-05:00

The day after Canon and I returned from Chicago, Mark took the day off from work. It was SO NICE to be with him again and to play as a family that day. I missed him so much, and it would have been really hard to come back and then have to stay home alone with the baby all day. Yeah, that was pretty awesome!

Just a couple days after that, my friend Theresa came up with her husband for a visit from Maryland. (Some of you may remember her from my previous posts of when I went to MD for her baptism and later her wedding.) She and her husband Gary came out to Boston IVF because she's participating as a surrogate mother for a second time. We figured that she was going to be so close that we might as well have a short visit. I drove to Boston to pick her and Gary up and brought them back to Springfield on Friday afternoon. We talked all Friday night long, and then just hung around the house on Saturday. Sunday we brought Gary to church with us, but Theresa was feeling really awful so she stayed at the house. It was a very short visit, but it was so fun to see them again and to get to know Gary a little better. (I really only met him at her wedding, and it's not like we had much time to really talk and get to know each other.) She will be coming back out to Boston IVF for further treatments/procedures, so I'll most likely visit with her again in the near future. YAY!

Sorry I didn't get any pictures while you were here, but thanks for the wonderful weekend visit, Theresa!

Who Vacations to Chicago... Part 2

2011-01-28T13:57:00.000-05:00

My mother kindly reminded me that I forgot to mention that the first Saturday that I was in town we all went out for pizza at Giordano's for my dad's birthday. Other than the fact that Canon was pretty much refusing to consume anything other than chocolate milk and constantly throwing his crackers to the floor, I had a great time. He was basically throwing a fit and I knew he needed to go to bed, but it was still fun to eat yummy food and laugh with family. I apologize to my dad for having forgotten to add this in the previous post.

Now, to continue where I left off...

Saturday evening was really fun to have so many people together. The house was really full, but I wouldn't replace that night with anything else. I thoroughly enjoyed talking with my brother Steve and his wife Maggie. I don't get to see them or talk with them much, and it was a real treat. We also all played a game called "Things" and all got a good laugh. (It was actually pretty hard with that many people, but it was a blast!) I don't know how many more opportunities we'll get to all come together, so I count my blessings that I had the chance to let my baby meet so many of his aunts and uncles (even if he won't remember it)!

Sunday night was pretty fun too. My brother David's wife (Aileen) and her daughter (Cherry) came back from the Philippines, where they're from and had been visiting for quite a while. So we gathered as a family for a welcome home party. Jeff made several things out of balloons- animals, hats, and a house that really ended up being more like a box but the kids had a grand ol' time playing with it. We put up streamers, and David got Dora the Explorer decorations and cake. Cherry was so excited to see all the Dora stuff and it was so great to see her smiling over everything.

Monday I don't remember doing a whole lot other than trying to take it calm. I do remember that evening I planned to go out to dinner with a few friends of mine, and the rest of my family went out to eat somewhere else. It was really nice to get with Chuck (finally), his girlfriend Lisa, and Lauren (again) for a dinner at Chili's. It may not have been an entire evening, but to have a calm time with the attention on my boy was fun for me. (Ok, ok so maybe I'm a little prideful, but I love to show off my little guy and have people tell me how cute he is. He really enjoys the attention too, so it was good all around... except for maybe the car-ride home since he really doesn't like being in the car.)

Tuesday was the day we all went home, so it had its moments of chaos, but not many. My afternoon flight was timed pretty well because it allowed Canon to have his full nap before heading to the airport. However, he was so hyper in the airport and on the plane. I knew he would be getting tired by the end of the flight, but that would just make him even more restless. At first I took a seat near the middle/front of the plane in a middle seat, but then someone suggested that there might be more empty seats in the back. I headed toward the back and took a spot with two open seats. Then the girl in that row offered to move to the next row back to allow me to have the whole row to myself. That was so nice of her. It really made all the difference to have a bit of leg room to allow Canon to get down every once in a while. Of course, every time I let him down he wanted to walk out into the aisle (all at bad timings too), but it was so great to have all three seats to ourselves. He was pretty difficult for me to handle, but that's because I was trying to keep him happy and quite. Everyone else on the plane thought that he did great. (Phew!) I tell you though, by the time we got back to Massachusetts, Canon was not as excited to see Mark as I had hoped he would be... but that's because he was so sleepy. I was glad to be home though!

Mary and Sammy right before leaving for the airport.

I have to say that as glad as I was to be home, I'm still so grateful to my brother Rob for those plane tickets to go visit family in Bolingbrook, IL. It was great to be with my parents again, to see all the new colors they've painted in their house. I loved spending time with Jeff and Mary with their kids. Getting to know them as their personalities are really shining, it was great to see how different they are from Canon and each other. I am amazed at how well her children behave during prayers and just their happy attitudes toward so many things. Sammy is such a cuddle-bug, I'm kinda jealous. Just seeing how Jeff and Mary interact with their kids and each other- I think they're an inspiration... or a mental kick in the pants to tell myself that there are things I ought to do better on a regular basis. I hope that I can find a way to teach my children to listen as well as theirs do. I also never realized how loud my own child is until this trip. You mean... not all kids just stand there and shout at the top of their lungs when they get excited about something, or just because they want to hear the sound of their own voice? Huh, go figure! I guess you learn something new everyday. Thanks again, Rob, for the tickets. It was a great time!

us with Dan and Bonnie just after the Dora party

Who vacations to Chicago in January???

2011-01-15T13:40:00.000-05:00

Who vacations to Chicago in January? Well, apparently Canon and I do. For Christmas my brother Rob bought me a plane ticket to visit family in January. Since Canon is still free and a lap child, he comes with me pretty easily. We couldn't really afford to buy Mark a companion ticket, so he's still in Massachusetts while I visit my family in Illinois. It's been a lot of fun to hang out with my parents, my brother and his family, and to see other family too.

Much of what has gone on so far is kind of blur in my memory, but here's what I can tell you about our trip up until now.

I arrived on Friday afternoon. The snow started falling on our way home from the airport, and it just did not let up. Jeff and Mary with their 3 boys were supposed to come in a few hours later, but due to the weather, driving conditions, and traffic, they arrived really late that night. Canon was already in bed.

Saturday, I woke up to this adorable face!

I just love his bed head!

I think we just hung out around the house all day, and I think it was Canon's first experience with falling down a flight of stairs too. (poor kid!) I know that night I went to a birthday party for a friend from high school. After I put Canon to bed, I made my way to the bowling alley, and it was a blast. I expected to be there for only about an hour tops...but I was there for about 2 hours. There were so many people from high school that I haven't seen in the last decade, so I spent a lot of time just catching up with everyone there I knew. Yay for old-time friends! (Now I almost feel like I don't even need to go to my 10-year high school reunion this summer. Ha ha!)

Sunday we went to church (duh!) and saw so many old friends and mentors. I always wish that there was more time in between classes so that I can talk more with people. After church we had to stick around for a little while because Jeff accidentally left the lights on and killed the car's battery. We couldn't get our other car close enough to jump it, so I took Canon inside to feed him while they experimented with using two sets of jumper cables together. That apparently worked because they got the car up and running again.

I don't really remember anything special about Monday... we were probably just hanging out around the house. Nothing special... although that was probably the day that Canon fell down the stairs 3 times. (Yeah, he likes the stairs, and there' only so much you can do when all he wants to do is practice climbing up and down them. We borrowed a baby gate, but I'd rather he get his "falling" done and out of the way before we go back to MA where our stairs are really steep and extra dangerous. He's doing better, but we still need to keep an eye on him. Getting him to stop and turn around before stepping off the edge is the hard part. He just has no fear, that kid!)

On Tuesday we went to the Dupage Children's Museum, which was really a ton of fun for all of us. Of course the 4 little guys really enjoyed it, but I half think my two older brothers enjoyed themselves more. I felt bad for poor Canon though. The time we arrived at the museum was about when he should've been going down for a nap (that was my fault because I took too long to get ready), and he totally crashed in the car on the way home. Here are a few fun shots from the DCM.

Enjoying himself in the Little Explorer's section

"Ooh, velcro gears!"

Splashing away!

"Look, Mommy! A waterfall!"

That night my mother was scheduled to work at the Chicago LDS Temple. So we planned as a family to all go that night. It was a good thing we did too because the entire endowment session was made up of my brother and his wife and the witness couple, my father, and me. My mother followed along in that session, so afterwards we all went to participate in some sealings. We then went to Cheddar's for dessert and rushed home to our babysitters. It so nice to be able to just get away with the family to the Temple and not really have to worry about bedtime with the baby. Apparently Canon did give the babysitters any trouble and he went down to bed really easily. (That was a relief becuase he really didn't get a nap that afternoon. Yes, he crashed in the car on the way home from the museum, but he didn't sleep longer than about 30 minutes total. He woke up and would not go back down shortly after getting home.) The other kids were more of a handful, but the babysitters seemed to be able to handle it just fine and everyone was safe and sound once we got home- after 10pm.

We haven't really had any more family outings, but I took Canon with me to go visit a few high school friends. Wednesday evening I went to see Lauren Miller (Chuck was supposed to be there, but he bailed out due to deadlines at work! Hopefully we'll see him this next Monday!) and her parents. I kept Canon out a bit later than I should've, but it was good to see her and show off my little handsome guy to her. Thursday evening I took him to go see Doug and Stephanie Carlisle and to meet their newest little baby. It was really great to be able to catch-up with them and to talk as though we'd never been apart. It was nice to also get a little break away from the chaos of rowdy boys. True, Doug and Steph have more kids than my brother does, but their kids are quieter, and not quite as rambunctious. Canon is not used to being around so many children, especially ones that are older than he is, so I think it was a much needed break for him too.

Friday we hung around the house all day. We babysat a family friend's daughter because he was really sick and his wife was at work. It wasn't really that much harder since she just played with the other kids, but that's a lot of kids in one house. My parents went out to a movie that afternoon as a date and Mary wasn't feeling well pretty much the whole day. I have been missing Mark this whole trip, but Friday was the hardest so far. I guess it hasn't really felt like much of a vacation for me because I don't really get a break from Canon...plus I have Jeff and Mary's kids who, although they are angels, are a lot of work and don't allow for much rest, even when Canon's napping. (I think that's the main reason I haven't been able to blog until now...nor have I been able to really remember much more of what happened from day to day.) Mark made me promise that I would actually play more with my family and not just sit around reading all day and night. (Those who know me understand how ironic that statement is... but I've actually started and finished Catching Fire, which is the 2nd book to the Hunger Games series. I had to borrow Mockingjay from a friend so that I can continue before I go home.) Reading has been my only relief on this trip... it's a good thing I had a good book!

Today is Saturday. Right now, Canon is napping and tonight is our big family get-together. We will have 6 of the 8 siblings all together. We've been looking forward to this all week...let's just hope that the house will hold together with that many people! :-D

The Holidays

2011-01-15T12:34:00.002-05:00

My cameras have been pretty fickle lately, so I don't really have photos to post. Sorry, this is just a summary of what has been happening over the past month or so.

We didn't get to travel as a family for Christmas this year, but we did enjoy a Christmas Eve together as our own little family. We read the nativity story from the Bible while drinking egg nog (Canon's favorite part) and sitting by the Christmas tree (Canon loves the lit up tree at night too). We tried to help Canon get excited about Santa Claus coming that night, but honestly, I think the excitement will just have to wait until next year. He just doesn't get the whole "opening presents is totally awesome and tons of fun" concept just yet.

This past Christmas morning was probably the last relaxing Christmas morning I will get for a LONG time. We ate a nice breakfast skillet dish and opened our presents by the tree. Canon got tons of clothes because he really needed them, but it turns out that he's already starting to outgrow them. (Why don't they make a size between 12 months and 18 months? They were doing it by 3 months all along, and now I don't get a 15 month option? What gives?!?!) Canon also got a bunch of fun toys from family, one of which took all his attention away from his other presents and he didn't want to open any more. He just wanted to sit and play with it. (Thanks Brian and Tiff!) Another significant gift that Canon received was a boat toy that played fun sounds and a cute little song. It was just the ticket to motivate Canon to go from the baby tub to the big tub. (I've tried to do this a couple times, but he would just scream and wail, and then when I tried to get him back into the baby tub, he just refused to bathe...screaming his head off!) He now bathes in the regular tub.

Mark got a jump rope, a work-out video for the jump rope, some new white shirts fo work, a few books, and a Kindle eReader. He seems to really like the Kindle, and he uses it every day. It fits right into his suit jacket inside pocket, so he also downloaded the scriptures onto it and brings it to church. He seems to be happy with his gifts.

I got three new outfits, some new baking sheets and whisks (which I really needed) and a couple of work-out videos (which I really appreciate, by the way! None of this- "Oh, I don't think you need to change...you look beautiful the way you are..." kind of comments here. I want to work out and lose a few pounds, and videos are the only way I'll end up doing it. YESSS!!!) I also got some fun jewelry, so that really adds to my new outfits. Overall we got really nice loot for Christmas, and it took us about a week to finally get all our stuff out of that room.

Christmas afternoon we had an invitation to attend Christmas dinner with the family of a friend from church. It was so nice to be included with a larger family this year. We enjoyed playing games, chit-chatting, and just being with fun people. It made us a little homesick for family to be close-by, but I think that it would've been worse if we were at home without anyone. It was a great Christmas. (Thanks Cousineau Family!)

For New Years Eve we invited a bunch of people from church over for a party. It turned out that all but one family either backed-out or already had plans. At least that one family came though. It was still a lot of fun because we had a group big enough to play Bang!. They also introduced us to a game... I think it's called Ruckus. Overall, the party wasn't as big as we had originally anticipated, but it was still a good time. (Thanks Hatch Family!)

I hope you all had a great Christmas and are making your 2011 a fabulous year!

Our 6th Wedding Anniversary

2010-12-21T15:28:00.001-05:00

I know it was crazy for us to get married a week before Christmas, and that December was a terrible month to be outside for pictures in Nauvoo, Illinois. However, that was the day we chose to get married, and now 6 years later, Mark and I couldn't be happier together. Sure, there are tough times, but we work through them together, and the Lord has always put us on the right path...somehow.

This past Saturday was a really nice day. It would have been better if I got to sleep in, but with a baby that refuses to sleep in himself, that was just not going to happen. I wasn't sure if I wanted Mark to open his gift at our date out, or at home...but I decided that I couldn't wait any longer. So after we ate breakfast we exchanged gifts. He knew that I spent ~~several~~ many hours working on this present, but Mark wasn't really planning on getting gifts for each other this year. So I told him that all I wanted was for him to do something romantic... it didn't matter if it didn't cost anything. Well, he totally pulled through. It was simple, but it made me cry. He had written a short paragraph telling me how much he appreciated being married to me and then listed 10 things that he loved about me. (Just so you know, he actually told me that it was a much longer paragraph, and the list was originally about 35 things, but he couldn't get it to look good on one page. So he had to crop it and take out all the funny parts and just make it more serious.) He used my scrapbooking software and printed it out onto card stock, and then he rolled it up like a scroll and tied a ribbon around.

It was very sweet. It made me cry! :-D

Then it was his turn to open my gift:

I took his box of pictures from him mission, contacted his mom for any other materials I needed from his mission, and I went through all his mission stuff to find anything that I could to make it a great scrapbook. I even covered the binder all by myself with that Chinese fabric I bought at Joann's.

I started working on it General Conference weekend, and I finished it with about a week or so to spare. I was so excited when I finished it, and I think he was pretty pleased with it. In fact, after he looked through it for the first time, I saw that he was a bit teary-eyed. YES!! That's what I was going for! He thought it was such a great present that he went and got a couple Christmas presents from under the tree to give to me as my anniversary gift instead. "They were gifts that put me over budget on what I was supposed to spend on you for Christmas, but if I give them to you for our anniversary, then I'm not going over budget on Christmas! Besides, these are the best ones to give for an anniversary anyway!" He got me those Dead Sea Mineral Body Scrub and Nail Pampering Kit. I was really excited because I knew that I really like that kind of stuff, but I wouldn't ever spend the money to buy it for myself. That was a really great idea to give me! Woohoo! He felt like he had to make up the difference because my gift was so much better than his. Whatever! I'm was just so happy that really appreciated that gift. (In fact, he liked it so much that he wanted to bring it to Church to show off...which he did...as did I! We are both so excited about how well it turned out!) Check out the slideshow on the right sidebar to get a closer look at the scrapbook. (Sorry for the glare in most of the pictures, but the camera will never be a good substitute for seeing it in person.)

Mark and I had talked all week about what we might want to do for our anniversary this year to celebrate, but it wasn't until that day that we finally just made a decision and ran with it. Our friend Laura Hawley from our ward had us watching her daughter the day before, so she was happy to watch Canon while we went out to eat. We left as soon as we could to eat at Texas Roadhouse. It was a great meal, and the waiter was just dandy, but the wait to sit down took too long. We ended up missing the showtime for the movie we wanted by about a 1/2 hour. The next showing of anything that we might have been interested in wasn't for another 1 1/2 hours. Also, Mark was starting to feel a bit tired, and we had a Netflix movie waiting to be watched at home already, so we just decided to not spend any more money and just go home. Besides, cuddling on the couch is so much more comfortable than those seats at the theater...even on our awful couches. We had dinner and a movie, and didn't have to worry about the responsibility of putting the baby to bed. What a great night!

Thanks for a great night, honey, and for an amazing 6 years! I love you! Let's do it again next year! :-D

November Went by Too Quickly, And December Is Halfway Over!!!

2010-12-16T13:19:00.000-05:00

I apologize to all those who were sitting on the edge of your seats... waiting for Kat to update her blog. November really got away from me, more or less, I just didn't find time to go online. In all honesty, once Canon turned 1 year old at the beginning of the month, he started working on the whole "walking" thing for real. A week later he was actually walking, and he's been keeping me on my toes ever since.

Also, I've been spending all (and I mean ALL) my spare time (an no, evenings with Mark don't count as my spare time) working on a "secret project." Okay, okay! So it's really only been a secret from Mark. There are a ton of people from our ward and family who know what I've been doing, but I can't mention it here... not until after this weekend. If you can, wait a week for me to post about it on the blog. However, if you're dying to know, just give me a call. Our 6th wedding anniversary is this Saturday, and I spent hours and hours on the gift I am giving him. I started working on it the weekend of General Conference, and it took me 2 months to complete.

There have been a few wonderful events that have happened since Halloween that are worth mentioning. Canon's birthday came and went, and we had a really fun party for him (and that was posted on the baby blog in a timely manner... unlike this post). Later in the month came Thanksgiving. We were hoping to be able to host this year since we didn't host last year because Canon was only 3 weeks old. Well, we ended up not finding anyone who didn't already have plans and were happy to accept an invitation to our former neighbors' place- the Stoutenburgs. We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves with their friends. Canon had a few new people to play with, which he absolutely loved. Mark had new people to talk sports and politics with, which he seemed to love too. And I truly appreciated a chance to get together with a group of people who were of devout faith, but not part of my own religion. It was great to be able to share my testimony with those who were open to hear what I had to say. Thanksgiving this year was a day to reflect on the blessings I've been given, and I gained a new appreciation for the blessings of the Gospel, my country, and my family.

Then, early in December there was a FABULOUS weekly special on Delta.com. Mark's mother and Aunt Colette were able to fly out here for a weekend. It truly was a whirlwind of a visit, but it was amazing to have them here. We did a ton of Christmas shopping to be able to send our gifts with them instead of paying for shipping them to Utah. We had so much fun with them that I pretty much forgot to take any pictures. I took a bunch while Colette was cutting Canon's hair (his very first haircut ever!!), but that was it. Sad! :( Thank you so much for the lovely visit. It just makes us more homesick for family to be around.

Once all that was over it was time to prepare for the Ward Christmas Party. Technically my calling has been disbanded by the leadership of the Church, but since we already had this party in the works, the bishopric decided to let me run with it for this event. We held our ward party on Dec. 10th, and it was a pretty successful event. We had over 150 people for our ham dinner, and our Variety Show had over 25 acts. It went a little long, but the whole ward seemed to really enjoy themselves. We also featured a Giving Tree for the ward. For 2 weeks or so, the ward has an opportunity to serve each other by picking an ornament with a gift idea, purchasing that gift and giving it to the bishop, who would then distribute those gifts to the people in the ward.

As of right now, we're getting ready for our anniversary celebration this Saturday, and then it's Christmas!! I'm sure there will be more posts soon. Until then, enjoy the holiday spirit of Christmas!

Halloween Craziness

2010-10-31T23:04:00.001-04:00

Ok, I'm so sorry to say that I did NOT get any pictures of our costumes. I'm the Activities Chairman for our ward, so I was the one in charge for our Halloween party. We did a Trunk-or-Treat, and I was busy the whole night, trying to make sure that all of the stations were taken care of and that things were running smoothly. So I never got around to taking any pictures. Canon went as Tigger and I was dressed in my Queen of Hearts Card costume (that I've used almost every year since Senior year of high school). Mark was going to dress up, but then when he made to get ready, he discovered that he no longer had a particular black shirt anymore... so that costume wasn't going to work. So... he just carried around the little Tigger all night instead. Today for church I thought it would be inappropriate for Canon to be dressed as Tigger, but we did dress him in a black turtle neck and black pants and attached a white sticker rectangle to his collar. He was a priest. I figured, although maybe breeching sacrilegious, it was more appropriate for church attendance. (I'll include a picture of Canon in his Tigger costume to the baby blog within the next couple days. Stay posted!)

The Trunk-or-Treat activity was a total hit! It was my first activity since I was called, and I really only had a couple weeks to put it all together. I had a couple volunteers to be part of my committee, and it all turned out GREAT! We did a donut-eating contest, a cookie-decorating station with sugar cookies and frosting and sprinkles, and a "Ghost Busters" game which was a fishing game where the kids fished for a ghost tootsie pop on their hooks. We had prizes, candy, balloons, and a huge crowd. Tons of people told me that I did a great job pulling it all together, so I feel confident that the ward appreciated the effort put into it. It's been a really crazy week leading up to last night, and it was really quite fun... but I think I've asked too much from Canon with all the driving I've had to do to get all the materials... skipped naps are no fun for a little one. Now that it's all over and done, I hope to have a more calm week and focus on giving Canon lots of attention.

Oh, and now that it's Halloween, that means that Canon's first birthday is tomorrow. Can you believe it?!?!? Canon is a WHOLE YEAR old now... tomorrow! I can hardly believe it! I'm going to make a little post on his blog tomorrow, but we're having his birthday party on Nov. 6th. This way we were able to get some friends from Boston to join us too! I'm looking forward to a time to catch up with people. Yay for birthdays!

Happy Halloween, and Happy Birthday to Canon!

Who's the Turkey Now?

2010-10-06T21:59:00.000-04:00

So on Thursday of last week I went upstairs to get Canon from his nap. I looked out the window and saw something that made my jaw drop. I ran with Canon down the stairs to hurry and get the camera to take pictures to prove what I saw. I really couldn't believe my eyes.

That's right. I saw LIVE TURKEYS just strutting down my sidewalk. I would've taken more pictures, but my battery died... or the memory card was full... one or the other. But seriously!! I was about ready to call the local news to tell them about it, thinking maybe they had escaped from a local petting zoo or something and this call would help them locate the missing turkeys. I didn't have time to look up the phone number on the internet because I had to leave to go pick up Mark from work. Oh well, next time, I guess!

I was super excited about it, and when I showed Mark the pictures he was just as amused. That night I went to book club and showed the hostess the pictures on my camera, and do you know how she responded? "Oh, yeah that's cool. Wild turkeys are all over these parts. Didn't you know? One year on the Sunday after Thanksgiving there was a whole flock of them at the church building strutting their stuff."

Ok, so I guess it wasn't that impressive afterall. Maybe it's a good thing I didn't call the news station, huh? I just never figured that there were wild turkeys anymore. I assumed they were all domesticated and bred on farms these days. Guess I'm the big turkey now! *blushes*

Road Trip

2010-09-22T22:01:00.000-04:00

Last week Mark had an interview for a federal clerkship in Bay City, Michigan. The cheapest way to get there would be for him to drive, so we decided to make a family vacation out of it. We could've driven north and gone through Canada to make the drive shorter, but with Canon that would be a big hassle since he really doesn't have any ID to get through customs. So, we decided to go visit Mark's uncle in Ohio instead. It only added a couple hours to the total drive, and I got to hang out at his house while Mark drove the rest of the way for his interview.

Here are some highlights from the trip:

The long drive there was really hard on Canon. He skipped his afternoon nap and got really fussy in the car. At about 8pm he just crashed. I was trying to prop his head up with the monkey (like a pillow) so that he wouldn't get a sore neck. After being soooo fussy, I thought that his sleeping was extra cute!

Canon loved playing around in the "wide open spaces" of a new house. So much to explore!

We went with Uncle Andy and cousins Erica and Trevar to see their old neighborhood and where Andy works, and then to run some errands. Erica got to sit by the baby, and he really loved the attention.

We found this fun raccoon hat with all their toys... need I say more?

We all got to meet their goats and watch how the family feeds, milks, and otherwise takes care of them. It was fun in the barn!

I got to help milk 2 of the goats. It was a bit trickier than I expected... but pretty fun too. After I finished, Oreo kicked the container and spilled about half of what we just got out of her. I felt so bad because I figured it was my fault. At least she didn't step IN the milk, but still! *sighs

Canon did enjoy the goats, but this video doesn't quite do it justice.

Friday night we went to watch Trevar play in the marching band at the high school football game. (Go, Trevar!!) Erica really liked playing with the baby while we were there, but I could tell that Canon was getting super tired. I made them all leave the game early so I could put Canon to bed. It was fun while it lasted though! Mark wasn't too thrilled about missing the last quarter. I think he was getting into the game. :)

On Saturday we drove out to Kirtland, OH to see the Church History sites. We went to the visitors' center and watched the totally awesome movie about the early saints in the area. We toured the N.K. Whitney General Store, the Whitney Home, the Saw Mill and the Ashery, the Kirtland Temple owned by the Community of Christ and their visitors' center, and then finally the John Johnson Farm. I have to say that I really enjoyed the LDS sites more than the Community of Christ sites, but I tribute that to the Spirit that you feel. The LDS sites all have missionaries baring their testimonies, and you really get a feel for the sacred nature of the site. Touring the Kirtland Temple was really cool, but everything seemed too fact-based. They really didn't focus on the sacred nature of the events that took place or testify of their beliefs. However, it was very organized and the tour guides were very nice people.

Here are some pictures from Kirtland, OH.

Canon fell asleep during the video they show before touring the Kirtland Temple. His nap was way overdue, so I was glad. He slept in Mark's arms all the way through the temple and into the last room, the inner court. It was there that Mark said his arms were shaking and he needed to hand him over to me. Well, the transfer woke him up, but at least he was a happy baby.

We then drove to the John Johnson Farm. It was really nice to tour that old home too. Check out the feather painting she had done on the doors and other woodwork throughout the house. Pretty cool, huh?

By the end, Canon was getting pretty restless. He was happy, yet pretty loud and distracting while the missionaries were trying to share their testimonies. Mark said that the elder who spoke there at the end bore a really nice testimony. Honestly, I didn't notice a word he said because I was trying to not be embarrassed by the rowdy pre-toddler. *blushes

But we got a family portrait in front on the very step where Joseph Smith, Jr. preached after he was tarred and feathered. Mark's grandparents served a mission being tour guides of this very house. So, Grandma and Grandpa Smith, this one's for you!

We left to come back home on Sunday. It was a very fun little vacation, and we were so grateful to Uncle Andy and Aunt Cindy for welcoming us into their home for a few days. It was so fun to see their home and animals. It was great to see you guys! Let's hope it won't be too long before we see them again!

Andy and Cindy

Trevar

We can't forget Belle, the first animal that Canon actually warmed-up to. She was a fun little dog.

Thanks for everything! We love you! (Sorry, there isn't a good picture of Erica... but I did get her in a couple videos.)

P.S. We found out this afternoon that Mark did not get the job in Bay City, Michigan. Oh well! It was still worth it!

A... let's call it "different"... Kind of Morning

2010-09-14T16:13:00.000-04:00

So this morning, like most mornings, I woke up to get Canon dressed and ready for the day before taking Mark to work. Sometimes I wait to feed Canon (and myself) breakfast until after we get back because of time. However, this morning I wanted to see if I could finish feeding Canon breakfast beforehand. Well, I ended up having Mark drive so that I could finish feeding him in the car on the way, which is fine... but I was starting to get hungry because I didn't eat. I can wait though... it only takes about 1/2 hour total to drop Mark off.

All of the morning seemed fine and good- Mark was at work on time, I had a mental note of things I wanted to get done before picking him back up after work, and I had just gotten home and was thinking about what I would eat for breakfast. I turned off the car, got out and opened the back door to get Canon. Since Canon always likes to play with my keys, I put them in my pocket after locking the car doors because I knew that he'd put up a fight when I wanted to unlock the house door to get inside. I got Canon out, shut the door and started for the house, reaching into my pocket to get the keys. What?!? No keys? I looked in the car, there they were, sitting in the back seat. They had fallen out of my pocket... after I locked the doors. So I was locked out the house, with my keys locked in the car, and I didn't know what to do.

My first instinct was to call Mark, maybe he'd think of something intelligent and resourceful. He suggested I call the landlord (Liz) to let me in the house and that maybe he'd be able to get a ride home from work. Well, she didn't answer her phone. (In fact, Liz didn't return the message until about 3pm today.) I called a couple (the Hawleys) who are supposed to be hosting us for dinner tonight. I got the husband who was at work and told him that I wanted to confirm our dinner appointment. He told me he'd have his wife call me, and I was hoping that it was going to be right away. (It's almost 4pm now and I still haven't heard from her.) I then called someone else whose number I had in my phone, but she didn't answer. I asked a nice little old lady (Marie Moll- a neighbor) who was walking down the street if she'd be able to help me get to the courthouse where my husband was working so that I could get his key, but she was on her way to an appointment. (She seemed genuinely concerned, but she's quite nervous about driving downtown. She wanted to help but didn't have the time this morning.) There was a couple from our ward that I wanted to call (the Stephensons), but I never programmed her number into my phone, so I couldn't reach them. After a little while and a feeling of desperation crept on me, I started flipping through my cell's address book. I came across someone I thought might be able to help (Callie Jennings) since I knew she was still looking for a job. When I called her, she told me her husband had their vehicle at work, but that I should give Brooke Stephenson (the one whose number I didn't have in my phone but wanted to call) a try. She had their phone number right there on her refrigerator, so I was able to get it from her. Turns out, Eric Stephenson was able to stop by the courthouse and get the key from Mark and drop it off here at my house on his way in to work. Eric said it wasn't too far out of his way, and he seemed happy to be able to help. What a relief!!

I was in the front yard with Canon for about an hour by the time I was finally able to get into the house. I was somewhat nervous and frazzled, but Canon wasn't any the wiser. He just had a grand time playing in the grass and dirt, "walking" around the whole yard and up and down the sidewalk. It was a good thing that I was able to feed him breakfast before we left because it was nap-time by the time we got indoors. I was pretty starving though. It was about 10:00am before I got to eat my breakfast, and I had been up since about 7:00am. *sighs*

At least I was able to get Canon down for 2 real naps today, even if I didn't get anything else in the house done. I'm just grateful for the blessing of a home, a loving and understanding husband, and a network of friends who could help me out in a time of need. Needless to say, I felt kinda stupid this morning... but I'm better now!

Changed My Email Address

2010-09-03T00:00:00.001-04:00

I made the switch from hotmail to gmail recently, and so far I'm glad I did. It's been such a long time since I changed my email address, but I think this time was the biggest hassle. I emailed everyone that I could think of, every contact in my other email contact list that I thought would ever use it...I tried to change the address for all those fun accounts (like recipes, parenting tips, etc.) but for some reason they still get sent to the old address. And now I find that friends' private blogs that I originally had an invitation to won't let me in anymore. Even when I try to log in with the old account, Blogger won't let me access those blogs. Ugh! So, for those of you who would like me to be able to read your blogs, please invite my new email address: kat.mark.dahl@gmail.com and I will be able to keep tabs on you too!

How many of you have changed your email address and what hassles did you have to go through because of it?

Lost Puppy, Belly Laughs and a Spider

2010-09-02T12:25:00.000-04:00

I felt like I really needed to post something today, but the only things I could think of to post were these:

Those of you who had spent some time at our apartment in Allston, you might remember this little guy...

Most often paired up with this little gal...

Well, a couple weeks ago we needed to go to the post office, so we decided to take a walk there. We had brought Banjo (the puppy) and another toy along with us for Canon to play with. As we were leaving the post office, I noticed that both of the toys were missing. I usually notice every time the baby drops a toy from the stroller, but this time I somehow had missed both times. We were kinda bummed because Mark's parents bought those for us right after we were married and we had them displayed ever since. Now half of the "couple" was missing. I kept hoping that we'd find it on the sidewalk on the way back... we actually DID find the other toy that Canon dropped, but not Banjo. So, that very afternoon Mark bought another one online from the Beanie Baby website. The replacement arrived just a couple days later, and this one has a fancy collar.

Now Mark's parents will never have to know that we lost their puppy... wait a minute... Oops! :)
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This was a video I took shortly before Canon's morning nap. He was just laughing and laughing, so I had to get the camera. He even went a little longer after I stopped the video too.

How long can you watch a baby laughing? Go ahead, time yourself! This video is almost 2 1/2 minutes long.

Canon really loves his Vergil. Thanks, Breanne!!
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When I was getting ready to put Canon down for his nap, I saw something in his window. I tried to get a good picture of it because it's pretty big, but the best picture I could get from the inside was by zooming in on a shot taken from far away. I don't know what kind it is, but it's yellow with dark stripes. I think the video here is the only thing that does it justice.

Let's just say I'm glad to have doubled paned glass windows! Eek!!

What We Do in Our Spare Time

2010-08-25T09:03:00.000-04:00

Canon loves it when we "chase" him, but he hasn't quite gotten the hang of chasing us. It's so fun to watch him grow. We're having a great time hanging out with Daddy before he starts working next week. Canon and I are not looking forward to giving up Mark to work 40 hours each week, but Mark is looking forward to having something to do everyday... not to mention receiving a paycheck!

Our transition into this new area is still in the process, but we're enjoying it. It feels like home. I'm loving being in a real house all to ourselves. Canon is at an age where taking him to playgroup on a regular basis is not as difficult as before. He's not quite playing with other kids, but he does like the interaction with new people... which I love too. I was never really able to make it to many playgroups in Boston because of Canon's nap times, but I'm determined to make it work out here. There are so many nice ladies out here that get together, and I really want to get to know them better.

After living here for 3 whole weeks, DirectTV is FINALLY coming to install the service today. I'm getting excited because we'll actually be able to get the Mountain, a TV station from Utah that plays all the college sports from the area... which means.... BYU FOOTBALL PARTIES!! We're also getting a DVR, so finally we'll be able to record and watch later the shows that we miss on TV. Ok, ok...I'm lame, I know... but I'm still glad it's coming today!

We've Moved!!

2010-08-14T10:36:00.010-04:00

I've been pretty busy over the past 3 weeks getting packed, and then trying to unpack and get everything settled into the new house. It's been really fun to have Mark home all day long to just help out with the house, get decorations up, and just to hang out. He starts his Judicial Fellowship the beginning of September, so the move to Springfield has come and gone, but not without any hitches. Let me describe some of the events of this recent move.

Mark kind of got lost on the way home from the rental place.We had three guys help us load the truck, and one girl come to play with Canon while we worked...which was all very helpful. However, it took over 3 hours to get fully loaded... and Mark forgot that they hid his bike behind a bush and didn't get it loaded into the truck. So now we have to wait for a friend to bring it out here for us.
We couldn't get our Comcast Internet hooked up right away because the previous tenants never cancelled their account... so we had to fax Comcast a copy of our lease to prove that we lived at the residence. However, we still hadn't gotten a copy from the Realtor yet... and it took 3 phone calls to get them to drop off a copy. After 5 days we were finally able to get Internet hooked up.
Within a couple days I noticed that a small diamond from my wedding ring was missing. Don't really know when it was lost, but with everything we'd done over the past few days, there was no finding such a small stone. So we took it to a jeweler to get fixed.
My kitchen took FOREVER to figure out where to put things because I had only 1 drawer. Count them... it... ONE!! We made several trips to Walmart, Target, and Lowes for things we needed around the house. We settled on stacking two end tables we got from Target with baskets to allow for more drawer space for kitchen stuff (even though we put them in the dining room). Once we got those put together, the kitchen went a lot more smoothly.
Our bed's box-spring wouldn't fit up the stairs to get it to the bedroom. So we slept with the mattress on the floor for a few days until we could figure out what to do about the bed. Mark decided to buy 2x10's and place the boards across the bed frame. Honestly, we found these strong boards to be much more comfortable than the box spring was. Oh, the irony!
Canon's room was the only room in the house that didn't have any window coverings, so he'd wake up to the sunlight and not want to go back to sleep, and I DID NOT like to be woken up at 5:30am and then fight the kid to go back to sleep. It also had a green-house effect in the afternoons and got really hot in there. We went to buy a shade at Target and found a cute curtain that cost only a couple bucks more than the shade. When we got it home we discovered it was only ONE curtain. So we had to buy a second curtain, which turned out to be more expensive than we anticipated at first. But, once we bought curtains, and the land-lady installed window shades, it has been much nicer. Canon sleeps much better now.
I've been wanting to repaint Canon's dresser because the drawers have been sticking and the paint was peeling. The professional at the hardware store told me that I need to strip it before painting it. That ended up being a disaster (mainly because I didn't really do it right). We would have to go buy some more stripper, then an electric sander because it was just too much for me to do by hand, and then the paint/stain...not to mention the time it would take to do all that. I was waiting to finish his room because I needed a place to put his clothes, so we just gave up and bought a new cheap dresser from Walmart.
We still don't have TV hooked up because the earliest install date for DirectTV is August 25th. Hopefully they'll have a cancellation in our area soon because we'd like to be able to watch something on TV. We missed the finale of So You Think You Can Dance though! BUMMER!
We're responsible for watering the lawn, but the previous tenants seemed to never do it. In fact, much of the grass looks dead... and we figured out why. When Mark tried to water for the first time, he found that the water to the outside faucets was turned OFF. He had to figure out how to turn it back on... and then he went onto Craigslist to find a cheap lawnmower because the house didn't come with one.

All in all, we know that there are always interesting things to deal with when you move, but it's really been a fun change for us. I absolutely love being in a house, and I'm looking forward to getting to know some people. We had the sister missionaries over for dinner on Thursday, but that just made us realize how much we miss entertaining. We want to have people over, but we just don't know anyone around here yet. Mark and I miss having friends. :)

If you're interested, here are some videos that tour the house so you can see it, but keep in mind that not everything is in its place just yet. We're still trying to get some things organized. I tried to get it all into one movie, but Blogger was having troubles uploading it, so here it is broken up.

Part 1:

Part 2:

Bathroom:

Part 3:

Canon's Room:

Part 4:

Our New Place, and Our Current Place

2010-07-11T22:23:00.007-04:00

This week I spent a lot of time online looking for a new place to live in Western, MA. Thursday I drove out there with Canon and looked at 3 apartments. On Saturday, Mark came with us that time and we saw about 10 places... and it was totally worth it. We put down a security deposit on this...

It actually has a lot of storage space with a full basement, 3 bedrooms, a dining room, and even...

a backyard...

and a driveway!! No more street parking for this grocery-shoppin' mama!!

We were super excited about this place and talking about it the whole drive home. Then, once we got home, this is what we found.

Remember when our apartment got water damage from the foundation leaking into our bedroom last summer? Well, that was nothing compared to this. Canon's entire floor was soaked, as was his closet (which we use as our storage closet for all our boxes of books and other treasures), into the hallway, the coat closet, and even our bedroom's closet.

Walking on the carpets, water would pool around your foot. Mark said that he went into Canon's room and jumped around...and the floor SPLASHED. Who needs to go outside when it rains in order to play in the puddles?

The management had sent men over to the apartment to wet-vac all the carpets... AT 10:30PM. I wasn't too excited about waking Canon up so often that night, but we would rather that they get it all cleaned up sooner rather than later. We had to pull out all the stuff out of all those closets and the bedroom... this is what my living room and kitchen looked like.

I was super stressed about it all day. I didn't want to go home after church because I didn't want to be in the apartment, with all the huge fans blowing, and the dehumidifier making all the loud noise. I didn't want to be in a place where I couldn't even think about putting my baby down to play. He would HATE being in the play pen all day and not be able to crawl around. Luckily I am blessed with a husband who let me just nap while the baby did... in the only place that seemed to give refuge to the horrible mess. When I woke up, the apartment looked like this!

There's actually space for Canon to play, my kitchen is totally open... the hallways are a little narrower, but they're workable. Everything that we need to be able to get to is accessible. I no longer feel like I don't have my apartment anymore.

Mark is the BEST HUSBAND EVER!!

Independence Day

2010-07-11T20:56:00.010-04:00

On Saturday July 3rd the three of us hung out with our friends, the Tylers. We spent the hot, hot day waiting in line to enter the "Oval" to watch the Boston Pops Concert featuring Toby Keith. It was a really fun day with too little time of babies sleeping, lots of sunscreen, and many of these baby smiles.

Even when it was super hot, Canon usually looked like this...

and this...

The large family group sitting next to us gave us a couple of glow-sticks for Canon. I think he thoroughly enjoyed them.

We had pretty good seats, and apparently the camera man thought so too!!

When Canon saw this confetti....

He looked like this...

Overall, I think it was a great day!

One thing that we didn't get a picture of was how we loaded the stroller on the way back to the T. Normally when we know Canon is not going to be in a car we don't really bother to strap him into his car seat in the stroller. However, this time I did strap him in, almost instinctively. Apparently the stroller was top-heavy because as we were going down a ramp on the sidewalk, somehow the flipped over... practically upside-down... in the middle of the intersection. Canon only had a look of "what just happened?" shock, but he didn't cry or anything. I think he just thought it was an interesting ride. Phew, that was a close one!!

New Stake Center

2010-07-11T16:56:00.009-04:00

This might not be terribly interesting to you, but think it's pretty cool! As some of you may know, the LDS Ward that Mark and I have been attending over the past 3 years have been meeting in an old rented "Tank and Boiler" building in Cambridge. The ceilings were high open rafters; the air conditioning was really loud and dripped on those of us who had classes in the little room off of the "chapel" area; the mother's room had one chair in a shower stall and the other chair (which was practically impossible to stand up from with a sleeping baby without pushing the cushion off by mistake)... don't get me wrong, it was a building that holds lots of fond memories.

However, on June 27th the Cambridge Stake dedicated a brand new building for our stake center. It's about a block away from the old tank and boiler building, and it now houses about 5-6 wards/branches, including ours. It is a very beautiful building, and the Mothers' Room has 4 NEW rocking chairs that don't force our legs to get all intertwined with one another! :) We actually now have a place for the guys to play basketball again (which we haven't had since the Longfellow Chapel burned down). We had a week of festivities leading up to the dedication, and the hundreds/thousands of Saints in the area participated in this glorious fun!

Mark wanted to play in the basketball tournament, but he couldn't get a team together in time. So the only extra event we ended up attending was the free Jon Schmidt concert. I thought it was a blast, and Canon was screaming with excitement through most of it. I think he likes music!! The dedication took place on June 27th, and it was a very nice meeting. People talked about the growth of the Church in the Boston/Cambridge area over the past century, and I always find it so inspiring.

One of my favorite parts of the dedication was that the person assigned to give the invocation wasn't the one who gave it. All of a sudden I look up and see Mitt Romney at the podium saying the prayer. When he finished his rather poetic prayer he walked down the aisle and sat down RIGHT BEHIND US. He even smiled at Canon when he was being all cute. I couldn't help but go up to him after the meeting to talk to him for a little bit...which was a bit embarrassing to me since I couldn't really think of much intelligent to say. :0P He looked over at Mark and said, "This little guy looks like this guy over here. Are you the Dad?" gesturing in Mark's direction. Yeah, we spoke to Mitt Romney, and I thought it was awesome that he was there at the dedication.

NOT Moving to Utah

2010-07-02T15:33:00.006-04:00

It's official! Mark was offered that 10-month judicial clerkship in Springfield, MA, and we've decided that we're going to take it. Being a "judicial fellow" for these 10 months will be a really good move for his career, and in fact, it would be really risky to not take this opportunity. This is the first offer he's gotten for a real paid position since he started searching 2 years ago. Sure, he's had internships and a grant and stuff... but this will be the first time that Mark will be the one supporting our family, and I think we're all pretty stoked about that!

In regards to my schooling, we will put it off for now. Getting into a financially stable situation is what we're shooting for, and more debt for school at this time doesn't seem to be the way to go. There are so many factors to consider for when I return to school... having another child (?), daycare (?), where will we be living (?), money, time, who makes the dinner (?)...I think we'll just make that decision once we get there. As for now, I'm relieved to not be going back to school this year. I was getting a little anxious... excited, but nervous about it too! Thank goodness the U of U has allowed me to defer a year without any penalties... and I didn't even have to tell them that I was concerned about my husband's job prospects! :)

I just want to say that the Lord loves us and is watching over us. He's done so much for Mark and me as a couple, and I hope that we can always remember to put our trust in Him. Life often feels so complicated, and there are so many things going on, that it's difficult to know which path to take. I know that Heavenly Father is there for us, and He wants for us to be blessed with good things in our lives. We would feel ungrateful if we did not take this job opportunity when we've been praying for help for so long. We went to the Temple about it this afternoon, and we feel that the Lord is helping us along.

Who knows, maybe He's been setting the stage for this all along. We came to Boston University because Mark was interested in their study-abroad program in China. Mark did alright his first year, but he got just average grades, so he ended up not getting a summer internship when the market crashed. Therefore, he didn't apply for the study-abroad program because he didn't want to be gone during the interview process for the next year. (Which turned out alright because he discovered that he doesn't really enjoy corporate law as much, and that's what he'd be doing with that international law that he was originally working towards.) Even though he received nearly all A's the 2nd and 3rd years of school and graduated cum laude, he still did not have any job offers when he finished. Then, this position opened up to only 2010 BU Law grads who didn't have jobs yet.

It almost seems like Heavenly Father is trying to close all other doors so that we will look down the hall through the door He's opened. Of course, we can choose whether to walk through or not, but when He's holding your hand, why should we fear?

Living in Limbo

2010-06-19T22:59:00.004-04:00

Once we feel like we've got a plan, life throws us a curve-ball. Once again, I feel like we're living in limbo, not really knowing what's going to happen. So far Mark doesn't have a job, and I've accepted admission into the University of Utah for their masters program in speech-language pathology. Our plan was for Mark to take the Utah Bar Exam at the end of July, then pack all our stuff up early August and move to Utah, staying with Mark's parents until we can get a place of our own. (We were going to take a Church History Tour Vacation on the way out because most of the stops will be perfect intervals for driving long distances with the baby.) Then I would start my masters program at the University of Utah on August 23rd.

Well, it may happen just like that... but then again... it might not. Mark's interviewing with the superior court system in Western Massachusetts for a 10 month clerkship. It was set-up just for BU Law grads from this year who didn't have jobs. 5 positions are open (I think only 2 are in Western MA and the other 3 are in the Boston area) and we feel that Mark has a pretty good chance. I was nervous about him getting a clerkship outside of Utah because I'm supposed to start school this fall, but then the U of U's welcome letter stated that they're allowing this year's incoming students defer until fall of 2011 if we wanted because more students accepted than they anticipated. So, that works out perfectly. Mark says that if he gets this job, he'll take the Massachusetts Bar Exam in February to make himself more marketable in this area. If he ends up finding a job here in MA with the contacts he makes through this clerkship, then I will apply to a part-time SLP masters program that they have out here in MA. I was looking forward to going to the U of U, but part-time schooling would be more condusive to being a mom once Mark is working.

So, once again, our plans are up in the air. We might be moving to Utah... we might be moving only a couple hours away to Western Massachusetts. Either way, we will be moving out of our apartment in August. Keep us in your prayers! We'd like a job, but we want to do what's right for our family too! I'm nervous about finding a place large enough and inexpensive enough to be comfortable, but I'm getting excited for a change.

Vacationing in Newport Beach, CA

2010-06-19T22:24:00.011-04:00

Mark's parents have a timeshare in California, and after 5 years of not being able to join in on the fun Mark and I were finally able to participate in the Dahl Family Vacation. Canon was able to see the Pacific Ocean (3x). He had his first experience with playing in the kiddie pool and in the big pool. We went whale watching and saw tons of playful dolphins, sea lions chillin' on a floating bouey, and 3 whales. We went to Knotsberry Farm with Mark's brother Alex. (Thanks for watching Canon, Mom and Dad!) We also went to an Anaheim Angels baseball game with Mark's parents. (Thanks for watching Canon, Tiffany and Brian!)

It was pretty much a lot of relaxation and good times to just hang out with family. I even got to rest a little bit in the mornings with a mother-in-law who would watch the baby so I could go back to sleep. Yeah, we got spoiled... and we're still not back to Eastern Standard Time. I guess it takes getting up Sunday morning for 9:00am church will just have to do the trick to get us back on track!

Only 7 1/2 months, and Canon already has adoring fans! :) His cousin Megan would play with him every chance that she got. Now, I try not to be the paranoid-type mother, but there were a few times I just HAD to insist she play with Canon on the floor instead of on the couch. It was great to have so many playmates for him though!

Splashing in a pool was a new experience, and Canon wasn't too sure about it at first. It became more fun once he got a beach ball to play with.

Canon has now been to both the Atlantic and the Pacific Oceans. This was his first experience with the water. He was happy in this picture, but he DID NOT like the cold, and I think the waves scared him. But he's cute in his swim wear, isn't he?

Whale watching was a new experience for most of us. I had a hard time getting him to look at everything we saw, but I think he did notice the dolphins once. He was so cute on the boat... especially after he sneezed when I was trying to feed him.

The last time Mark and I were in California, the Newport Temple wasn't yet opened. This time we walked the grounds after Church. The landscaping was beautiful, even with the "sticky flowers."

Thanks for an amazing vacation, Mom and Dad!

Pictures from Grad Week

2010-06-19T21:29:00.006-04:00

My cameras weren't working while we had family in town, so here are some fun pictures from their visit for Mark's graduation back in May!

Mark in his graduate get-up!

Congrats, Mark! We're all so proud of you!

Enjoying the tour of Fenway Park and the Boston Gardens

Getting ready for the Cape Cod Harbor Cruise

(Canon didn't really like the cruise very much. He hated how windy it got, so I took him down below to feed him and keep him warm.)

We ate at a restaurant at the docks that served pretty good seafood called Spanky's.

Just some good ol' family bonding

Watching Mark play basketball with the guys from church.

Mark's a Graduate and Now I'm Sick

2010-05-24T17:43:00.005-04:00

I wanted to post pictures, but my cameras are having serious issues. So those of you who were here, would you forward me the pictures and/or videos of your trip, please? Thanks! I'll posts those after I receive them.

As of May 16th, Mark is now officially a Boston University School of Law Alum. YAY!! He even gets to add the "J.D." to the end of his name now. Totally awesome, huh? It's ok, I know you're jealous! hee hee! To tell you the truth, it's hard to believe we're at the end of this tunnel. We moved out to Boston for Mark to attend 3 years of school, and now he's done! Of course, he still has to study for the Bar Exam which he will be taking this July, but the biggest hurdle is over! Wow! There is light at the end of the tunnel.

To celebrate such an exciting accomplishment, last week was super busy. Mark's parents and grandparents came into town on Friday, and my parents arrived on Saturday for Mark's graduation on Sunday, May 16th. We had fun just relaxing and hanging out at our apartment on Friday and Saturday. (Thanks Mom and Grandma for all your work fixing the robe we rented. Mark's robes looked better than anybody else's I noticed out there!) Sunday we attended the Law School Convocation at 9am.

It was actually a pretty interesting event with (1) the student helping to direct walking traffic right into a traffic jam and then getting so flustered that she passed out, (2) the keynote speaker being US Attorney General Eric Holder, (3) one of the student speakers getting up to the podium on crutches, and (4) Canon watching the people in the row behind us playing peek-a-boo and other eye-catching motions that kept him a happy camper through his whole skipped nap-time. Afterwards, there was a reception at 11am in the adjacent building where we took pictures and ate some yummy refreshments. It was a very beautiful sunny day, but it was hot so we were happy to get back home and out of the sun. Later that afternoon we had a nice roast beef dinner with our fine China and goblets. (Apparently I did a pretty good job on the gravy, so that made me happy!) It was a wonderful evening to just relax and be with family... and show Mark how proud we were of him.

The rest of the week is a different story! From Monday through Friday, our days were chock full of fun things to do in Massachusetts!

Monday the Dahls rented a van so that we could all drive out to Cape Cod. If the rental place had actually had their ordered vehicle ready in time, we just might have been able to get to do the things in Plymouth along the way, but alas we were out the door later than we wanted to be. We took a harbor cruise off the Cape (Canon was not too thrilled about the wind in his face, so I had to take him down below to try to feed him), and we enjoyed some very yummy seafood at the nearby Spanky's Clambake Restaurant in Hyannis. Then we drove out to the beach at the tip of the Cape, where I think I lost my earring, my mom got changed into her swimsuit just to dunk into the water and get out (brrrr... so cold), and we were all able to walk out into the sand just to say we were at the beach. All in all, it a pleasant, yet very full day!

Tuesday we all toured Fenway Park, home of the Boston Red Sox. That was actually a lot more interesting that I anticipated, and Canon was pretty good through most of it. When he started getting really fussy, I was actually able to nurse him as we were walking until he fell asleep. (I was sooo glad he finally took a nap!) Then we all ventured to Stephanie's on Newbury Street for lunch. After that we all walked to the Boston Garden to ride the Swan Boats. I have been wanting to ride those boats ever since we moved to Boston, and I FINALLY got to do it! YESSS!! Then we took a few more pictures over at the Make Way for Ducklings statues before we all headed back home. That was a good day too!

Wednesday was the day that Mark's parents and grandparents were going to head back home to Utah, and it was supposed to be rainy outside-so, we said our good-byes the night before. My parents and I were able to get an early start on making our way for Salem. We stopped in Concord on the way to visit the Concord Museum and the Old North Bridge Battleground. Then we continued on to Salem where we visited the Salem Witch Museum and the Peabody Essex Museum. We even got to walk around an old Chinese home, with courtyard and everything. There was so much fun stuff to see there. I'm glad we went. I'm also glad that Mark was awesome enough to watch Canon the whole day and make dinner for us. My parents ended up going out to a movie instead of coming straight home, so Mark and I even got a few hours together while Canon napped. Yeah...it was a pretty awesome day!

Thursday Mark decided to not stay home alone again and joined us for a trip to the Museum of Science and a Charles River Boat Tour. It was fun to take my dad to the Museum of Science because I know how much he likes that type of stuff. Mark gets bored with science, but he got to participate in a survey-type project where he got to take a digital camera around with him and take pictures of exhibits that he liked and disliked. I think that helped to make it a little more enjoyable for him.

Friday started off just fine, but I could tell that I was starting to wear down. I woke up with a slightly sore throat, but it just got worse through the whole day. We had fun though. Mark stayed home again, but this time I took Canon with me and my parents. We were aiming for the USS Constitution the whole day but never quite got there. We rode the Beantown Trolley and got off at Long Wharf where we took a Harbor Cruise. Then we walked to and ate at Quincy Market, roamed Faneuil Hall, and got back on the trolley for the rest of the ride. We ended up skipping the USS Constitution stop when we walked to Quincy Market. Oops! Then we walked over to see the something over by the Christian Scientist Church, but it closed an hour before we thought it did... so we just sat in the pleasant little garden park until it was time to go to our dinner reservations at the Cheesecake Factory. We had a nice yummy dinner at the restaurant, but Canon was starting to really get difficult (for him anyways- he's a really good baby!). I was really feeling tired, and the 5 cough drops I had that day didn't seem to soothe my throat much. I was ready to go home by this point. But overall, it was still a really fun day.

Saturday, I decided that I really shouldn't go out with my parents again. I needed to stay home and rest. My parents went out on the town though, and they got to see the USS Constitution (finally) and a few other things that I don't remember. They certainly were crazy-busy tourists and really enjoyed themselves. Some vacations are relaxed and laid-back...but not this one. They toured as much as you can tour, and they seemed to really have fun. Good thing too... I don't know when the next time will be that they will be able to come to Boston. I'm sure we won't be here when they do, unless they plan to help us when we move to Utah in August. Ha ha!

Boston STAYcation

2010-05-24T15:32:00.008-04:00

Mark's last final was on May 4th, and his graduation wasn't until the 16th. So...what does a small family do in that time before relatives arrive for graduation celebrations that doesn't cost too much money? They have a STAYcation, of course!

We were originally hoping to go to New York City at that time, but our friend that we were going to stay with was unable to have us that week. So we decided to postpone the NYC trip and have some fun doing things here in Boston that we hadn't really done before...or for a long time anyways. We drove out to the tip of Cape Cod and browsed most of the museums and visitors' centers all along the coastline.

We tried to stop for lunch, but the first two places we tried were closed for the lunch hours! What? Who's ever heard of that? Well, we kept looking and eventually found a place to stop. We decided to eat in a barn!!

We drove out to the very tip to enjoy the beaches. It was a pretty breezy that day, so it wasn't a very nice day for beach fun, but we still wanted to see the water. This was Canon's first trip to the beach, however short that may have been... and no playing in the sand this time. It was a beautiful beach, and I could see that it would be super busy if the weather were better. Mark just had to wade out into the water... I say he's CRAZY!!

We also were able to venture out far enough to see some lighthouses. These were actually the first lighthouses I'd ever seen.

I know that we walked all the way down to the Boston Garden and took pictures with the Make Way for Ducklings statues, but I honestly don't remember what we did with the other days. We enjoyed just having time off to be together as a family. This was a rare week for us when Mark didn't have to study for anything and neither of us had to go to work. That week passed by way too quickly!!

Wedding in Maryland

2010-05-02T20:03:00.010-04:00

A couple weeks ago we drove down to Maryland to attend the wedding of my friend Theresa Bailey. Those of you who follow my blog might remember that this is the friend who got baptized last year. She met Gary St. Clair in a singles' ward and they decided to get married in the LDS Chapel where they attend church. I've never participated in the actual wedding ceremony as a bridesmaid before, but it was a really special experience, and I'm so grateful that we were able to be a part of it.

Mark and I left on a Thursday afternoon (once we realized that he was going to be late to class, he decided to skip class and drive that night instead of waiting for the next day) and stayed at a friend's house (Rakhi) in New Jersey on the way down. It was Canon's very first real road trip, and I wasn't sure how it was going to be to drive so long with a little baby. The stop in New Jersey was a perfect stopping point, and Canon was a pretty good sport about it all. (When the trip was over, though, I think he had enough with his car seat.)

This enabled us to arrive in Maryland to help with the decoration set-up the night before the ceremony. The day of the ceremony we had a rehearsal and then separated to get ready. The bride and bridesmaids went to her house to get make-up and hair done... but there were so many other people there trying to get ready. It felt like chaos, and with Canon being overstimulated (out-right crying) twice while we were there, all I could think was, "Why don't we just go to the Church to finish getting ready?" So I suggested we leave then and finish getting ready there. Good thing too, because it took the whole group about 40 minutes JUST TO LEAVE. Yeah, the chaos caused stress levels to rise for a few of us, and on the way to the Chapel I could feel the tension. I really wanted everyone from our car to arrive in good spirits, so I started singing "I Love to See the Temple" from our children's hymnbook. Theresa asked me to sing this for the ceremony, so I figured that it was a good opportunity to practice. The Spirit filled the car so strongly that I could hardly get all the words out in the second verse. I could tell that the other girls appreciated the change in mood, and I felt my own stress melt away.

Once we arrived at the Church, there was still much that needed to be done in order to finish getting ready, so the wedding started an hour late. That might be considered a bad thing, but it was such a beautiful ceremony. It was simple, but elegant. The passages they requested the bishop to recite were in reference to the eternal nature of families. I sang "I Love to See the Temple" and the rest of the focus of the ceremony showed the goal that they have as a couple to be able to go to the temple together.

The reception was fun with music and dancing, a sit-down lasagna dinner, milkshakes, and toasts offered at the microphone. It was so great to see Theresa looking to beautiful and happy. The family that she's married into was so sweet and welcoming to her. They seem to be so excited to have her in their family (and who wouldn't be?) which makes me happy. As her friend for over a decade, I'm so glad to see Theresa being so happy with the Gospel of Christ in her life and the loving support of an adoring husband in the Gospel.

After leaving the reception, Mark and I drove to the Washington D.C. LDS Temple. I had never been there before, and it was so beautiful. The wind was blowing really hard, which made it pretty chilly, so I suggested we go back to the car. Mark wouldn't have it and said that we needed to take the time to walk around the Temple. I'm so glad he did because it was totally worth it. Looking at the beautiful building was fun, but the Spirit that I felt was incredible. I reflected on the beautiful wedding ceremony we just attended and recognized the amazing blessings we receive through a Temple marriage. I was truly grateful! The Temple is an amazing place where we make covenants with our Father in Heaven, and it truly is a blessing to be able to attend and feel the peace and love within its walls.

On our return trip home, we stopped at Rakhi's house again, and it was fun to share our experience with her and her sister Rema. They live so close the New York City that we were hoping to stop again for a few days and visit the city with them when Mark finishes his finals and before he graduates... that would be this week!! However, it looks like that won't work out. Looks like we're going to have to make other plans to visit NYC. We've been in Boston for 3 years and never visited NYC...we've gotta go before it's too late! If we end up going and taking awesome pictures, I will post them later!

New Haircut + Great Weather

2010-04-14T21:17:00.004-04:00

This next weekend I will be a bridesmaid in a wedding, and so I dyed my hair and got it trimmed. My friend Emerald from church cut it for me with Canon lying there on the floor. He was a little upset after a while, being bored with 2 people in the room who were NOT paying attention to him. Overall, he was really well-behaved. Anyways, it was such a nice day outside, Emerald offered to take our picture. These are a few of my favorites.

Enjoy!

Early April

2010-04-04T20:40:00.013-04:00

Over the past few days we've had a few fun things going on:

1. On Thursday April 1, Canon turned 5 months old. Yeah, I know, not something worth celebrating, but I've kept telling myself that he looks bigger to me every day. He's been growing so fast, and I could tell that he's been more hungry than usual, so I decided to start him on solid foods. That is something exciting!! So far he's only received rice cereal mixed with breast milk... and sometimes also formula to make it more filling. So far it seems to be working out pretty well, and I'm looking forward to better sleep once he doesn't need to feed so often at night. (For more ramblings on this subject, please see my baby blog.)

2. On Good Friday April 2, I had a wonderfully enjoyable birthday. In the morning I took Canon to an Easter Egg Hunt that was hosted by Birgit for a bunch of ladies from church and their kids. I didn't get there in time to really join in on the hunting, but I didn't really mind... Canon can't really appreciate the activity just yet anyway! However, I did get to bring a Bunny Cake. That afternoon, Mark and I got to go to the Temple which was a real blessing. It was the first time we went since Canon's been born, and we were asked to be the witness couple. (That's not really a surprise because there have only been about 3 times we can think of when we were NOT the witness couple at the Boston Temple. ha ha!) That night we had some friends over for strawberry shortcake and ice cream.

3. Saturday was a beautiful day, so Canon and I went to the park while Mark played football again. While Canon took his morning nap, I did Pilates and enjoyed the sun and fresh air. Later that day and Sunday we got to listen to General Conference, thanks to the Internet! I really felt like the talks given were spoken not only to edify me directly, but to inspire me to work harder to be a better witness of Christ. This was the first General Conference I spent as a mother, and I honestly think it made a difference in how I received the messages shared. I'm so grateful for the Gospel of Christ in my life and the opportunity we have to hear the words of prophets today. I can't think of a better way to worship on Easter Sunday, listening to words of Christ and His lessons applied to modern life. Also, with this being Canon's first Easter, he (actually Mark) got to open his very first Easter gift from Grandma and Grandpa Dahl. Thanks G&G Dahl!!

Hope you all had a wonderful Easter!

Our Apartment

2010-03-24T23:15:00.006-04:00

We're trying to find someone to move into our apartment so that we can break our lease early. Here is a quick video I took that shows everything...including the not-so-clean side of Kat Dahl. Pardon the mess...just look at the great place we have! Any takers?